


This is Home

by PatchworkMedley



Series: This is Home [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-02-03 00:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12737577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatchworkMedley/pseuds/PatchworkMedley
Summary: "Steve sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, wincing only slightly at the pain that followed. His head was pounding and he wasn’t sure if it was because of the concussion or the five dipshits that he had apparently adopted."The Party realize that maybe Steve is worth more than just driving a car and welding a nail driven bat. And Steve realizes that when five pairs of eyes are giving you that puppy look, you don't stand a chance. Now if only he had those looks when dealing with Hopper...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hiii. So this is my first work for Stranger Things, and my first work period on AO3. So I'm very sorry if I tagged something wrong or even forgot to tag something. This is a very different monster than FF! 
> 
> So basically, I have a soft spot in my heart for Steve Harrington and I think that giving him these kids to essentially become his family is honestly the best thing about the show, so I'm running with it. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think!
> 
> PS I do plan on adding additional chapters, so keep an eye out for that!

The two days directly following the night the gate was closed, Steve had hardly been awake. He vaguely remembered a ball of curly hair flitting around a house, murmuring about a concussion and switching out ice packs on his head, but he wasn’t entirely sure that that wasn’t a dream. When he finally came to, he was surrounded by three of the four kids he’d saved from the Demo-Dogs just days earlier. They started whispering excitedly to each other.

“Thank god, I thought he was never going to wake up.”

“Of course he was going to wake up. He took a brutal beating and _still_ went with us into the tunnels. He was just exhausted.

“Yeah, which is why I thought he wouldn’t wake up _this time_ , dipshit.”

“Oh, dipshit, are we really going to go there.”

“Would you two just _shut up?_ ”

Steve groaned and looked around, trying to catch up with what was happening. The first thing he saw was flaming red hair, flowing around a face that glaring at two boys sitting across from her. It didn’t take him long to realize that it was Dustin and Lucas, who he just caught rolling eyes at each other. He looked around the room, not recognizing anything about it, except for the other two boys, Mike and Will, who were sitting in a chair opposite of him and staring at him with a bit of interest. He was vaguely aware of the dull pain at the side of his head, but the longer he was awake, the pain cleared.

Steve looked back at Dustin, who had turned his full attention back to the older the boy. He took a moment and a deep breath before finally speaking, his voice course. “I know you assholes have a habit of kidnapping me, but last I checked we already saved the world and I’m no longer needed. So can someone please explain to me where the hell I am?”

He heard a snort coming from Dustin’s direction as Lucas rolled his eyes. “I’m glad to see there’s no brain damage after all.”

"Before we jump into that," Dustin cut in, "how do you feel? You've been out for a while, I'm hoping that means you're mostly fine."

Steve sighed and shrugged, taking a moment to really assess his situation. "Uh, fine, I guess. I have something of a headache and I'm groggy as hell, but I could be worse."

“Billy did a good number on you,” Max said softly, a look of guilt plain as day on her face as Steve turned to look at her. He softened his gaze at her and was about to reassure her that it wasn't her fault, but she continued talking before he could. “As soon as you and Dustin climbed out of the hole, you came down. Hard.”

Steve blinked, trying to remember what he could, but aside from the flickers of Dustin playing the role of nurse, Steve didn't remember anything after climbing out of that god forsaken hole. "You said I had been out for a while. How long is 'a while' exactly?"

He noticed the kids directly in front of him glance at each other, but it was Mike who finally spoke up. "All of this happened really late on Sunday night. It's now late Tuesday afternoon."

Steve stared at Mike as if he had just been told that he had sprouted five new heads. "And _NONE_ of you thought it would be a good idea to wake me up?"

"You're not the only one who's been knocked out for the past couple days," Mike shot back, and Will shifted uncomfortably beside him. "You needed your rest, just like everyone else has needed theirs."

Steve's eyebrows shot up, surprised by the force radiating off the younger boy. However, he accepted it with a shake of his head and turned his attention back to the group in front of him. "Okay, so a day and a half of missing information." He clapped his hands. "Who's going to fill me in?"

“Max drove us all back to the Byers house after you passed out,” Lucas quickly chimed in, ignoring the look of bewilderment on Steve’s face as he remembered that he was driven illegally, _twice_ , by a thirteen-year old. “Then we just waited there for everyone else. Billy was still knocked out, cold on the floor. Hopper ended up taking him to the hospital, giving some bullshit story as to why this random kid was just unconscious.”

“We almost insisted you stay at the Byers house, but then we figured that Ms. Byers would be a little bit busy with Will, so we helped Jonathan get you into his car and went to your house first,” Dustin picked up. At the mention of Will, Steve let his gaze wander back over the younger Byers boy. He was curled up against Mike, his head laying in the lap of his friends. He looked _awful_. The area around his eyes had subdued into the lightest of purples, but his skin was still pale, and despite having what looked like two layers of sweats and a large blanket on him, he still looked cold. Steve locked eyes with the younger boy and quickly looked away, deciding he would later ask Dustin why Will was even there.

“When we got to your house, though, it was completely empty. Not a light on, not a person to be seen,” Dustin continued. “We obviously weren’t just going to let you be alone while you were suffering the worst physical injury out of everyone involved in this whole stupid thing, so I told Jonathan to bring you here. My mom can be a bit fussy, but she was a nurse for a few years, so I thought maybe this would be the best place for you.”

Steve immediately noticed the lack of a fussy parent and narrowed his eyes at Dustin. The younger boy threw his hands up in defense. “I thought she would be here! She was only supposed to go a suburb over to look for that stupid cat!”

Steve quirked an eyebrow. “And?”

Dustin’s face reddened as he avoided eye contact and cleared his throat. “She, um…”

Smirking, Lucas jumped in. “She called yesterday morning. She’s making a quest to hit all the surrounding towns to put up missing posters.”

Steve’s eyes bulged. “DUDE! Why didn’t you just tell her that Mews was dead?”

“Yeah, Steve? And how would I do that? ‘Oh, hey, mom, yeah, Mews was eaten by a demon creature from another dimension. Sorry I didn’t tell you and let you continue on this wild goose chase of yours, love you!’ Yeah, that would’ve gone over real swell.” Steve sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, wincing only slightly at the pain that followed. His head was pounding and he wasn’t sure if it was because of the concussion or the five dipshits that he had apparently adopted.

“No, asshole, but something along the lines of ‘the neighbors found him dead, and I’ve already buried him so you wouldn’t have to deal with that pain’ would’ve sufficed.” He saw the gears turning in Dustin’s head, and he knew that even Dustin was trying to compute how a kid so smart could be so utterly _dumb_. He paused for a moment, letting the useful part of the kids’ information sink in. “So, you brought me here and, what? You’ve been taking care of me?” Dustin nodded and Steve could feel his eyes soften a little bit. “Okay…but why here? Why didn’t you take me to the hospital?”

“The biggest reason is just that we knew that it was mostly just your body losing the adrenaline rush and needing to recoup,” Lucas chimed in. “It had been through a lot just in one day, it needed to chill out. Though we never imagined that it would’ve taken a day and a half. We were actually pretty close to taking you to the hospital.” The others nodding in agreement.

“I think that makes you pretty caught up now,” Max said. “The gate’s closed and things are as close to normal as I think they ever will be.” Steve’s heart soared at that news. At least the suicide mission that he and the twerps took wasn’t in vain. This was finally _over_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve decides that if he's going to be stuck with this group of pubescent assholes, he might as well get to know them.

_“I think that makes you pretty caught up now,” Max said. “The gate’s closed and things are as close to normal as I think they ever will be.” Steve’s heart soared at that news. At least the suicide mission that he and the twerps took wasn’t in vain. This was finally over._

Steve ran his hand through his hair as he let out a sigh of relief and immediately noticed all at once how disgusting he felt. Steve sat up slowly, but that didn’t save him from the wave of dizziness that hit him. He laid back, bringing a hand to his head as if that would stop it from spinning. He closed his eyes tightly so he wouldn’t have to look at the concerned faces of the kids in front of him. He took a deep breath before accepting the complete role reversal sitting before him. “I promise not to be an annoying patient, but food and water. I think those would be good right now.”

Within seconds it seemed, there was a sandwich and some water being thrust in his face. He slowly sat up again, this time taking a moment to adjust to the new position and took the food with a grumbled thanks. He took his time with the sandwich, taking a moment to observe the scene laid out in front of him and really get an idea of the dynamic between the group of friends that helped saved the world. 

Max and Lucas had shuffled back over to what looked like a photo album that was sitting in the middle of the floor. It didn’t take long for the two of them to essentially create a bubble around themselves that separated them from everyone else. They talked and laughed quietly to each other. By the way Max was pointing out the pictures and animatedly telling stories with each one, Steve could only assume the album belonged to her and that she was letting Lucas into her California world. He couldn’t help but smile softly at the scene. It reminded him of the early days of his relationship with Nancy. The feeling of having this entire other person that you knew nothing about but felt a connection with would never get old and he craved to have that feeling again. But watching the two young lovebirds in front of him, he supposed he would have to handle watching someone else discover that feeling. He felt a pang in his chest that caused him to turn away from them.

Instead, his eyes landing on Mike and Will. Mike’s hand was absentmindedly running through Will’s hair in a comforting gesture, but Steve couldn’t tell if it was a comfort to Will or to Mike himself. Will was starting to drift off to sleep, which was probably a good thing considering the state he was in, but Mike had just settled back into the seat, staring off into the distance.

He puzzled over the scene a lot longer than he probably should’ve. Steve could tell right away that the bond between those two was infinitely stronger than anything he’d ever seen. He just couldn’t tell what the _nature_ of the relationship was. The only thing he knew was that while Dustin, Lucas and Max were tearing up a junk yard, Mike was presumably with Will. Were they just really close friends? Dating? Secretly fraternal twins that got separated at birth but found each other in the end? He didn’t know. And it’s not as if it really mattered, necessarily, but if they were dating and broke up, Steve didn’t know if he’d be able to handle the rift that it could potentially cause within this little group here.

Not that Steve cared of course, it’s not as if he was going to be a part of it much longer anyways. That’s typically how things went for him.

“He’s pining after El,” a voice suddenly, but softly said beside him. “That’s why he’ s looking off like that.” Steve glanced at Dustin and then back at the two boys, nodding to accept the information that he hadn’t even realized he was worried about. Still…

“We’ll get back to that in a second, but first…god, how do I even put this...” Steve sat for a moment and thought carefully on his words before he gracelessly spat out, “So, are they a thing or…?”

Dustin barely batted an eye, looking over at his two friends. “If they are, they haven’t told us,” he said with a shrug. “They’ve always been like this, though, a little closer to each other than to everyone else. The only guess I have is that they became each other’s first friend, way back in Kindergarten when neither of them had anyone else. And that’s just a type of bond you can’t break or beat. Mike’s always been really protective of Will. I don’t think I’ve seen him as crazy as he was last year when Will was missing. Well, except last week when Will was possessed, but you know.” Dustin shrugged again. "I don't think it's anything like _that_ , but who knows."

Steve nodded, not really having any other option than to just accept it for what it was. “So why is Will here, exactly? I’m assuming that with the gate closed, that also means I’m not sitting across the room from the Mind Stealer—“

“Flayer. Mind Flayer.” Steve rolled his eyes but conceded.

“–Flayer. But the kid must still be exhausted. Hell, he _looks_ exhausted. So why isn’t he home?”

Dustin sighed and shook his head. “I honestly couldn’t tell you. From what I gather, Mike had been staying with the Byers but wanted to come here and Will didn’t want to leave Mike. It had to have been one hell of a fight if Will was able to get Joyce Byers to let him out of her sight. I want to say that Jonathan sitting in here with us was a condition, but as you can see, that didn’t stick.” Steve was relieved to hear that Jonathan hadn’t hung around, but when he thought about the potential reason why, he quickly moved on.

“Why’s the entire party here anyways? What happened to school?”

Dustin looked at him in disbelief. “Jesus Christ, Harrington, you’re supposed to have a concussion. What’s with the twenty questions?”

Steve just shot him a look, leaning his head against the back of the sofa. “How about you just answer the questions, alright?”

Dustin sighed. “Fine, but pace yourself, alright? You still need to rest at some point.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about, I just rested for a full day and a half.” He was promptly ignored as the curly-haired boy continued.

“Max and Lucas did go to school. Will stayed home for obvious reasons, Mike stayed with Will, and I stayed with you. As for why everyone decided to come here, I don’t know, I guess they were just worried about you. You stepped up for us when no one else could, we all wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Steve nodded. “Did they bring home notes for you guys? You don’t need to fall behind. And you are _definitely_ going to school tomorrow,” he said with a slight nudge to the other’s shoulder.

Dustin shot him a questioning look. “Okay, first of all, I don’t remember the election for ‘group mom’ being held, so calm down. Second of all, I’m not going to school tomorrow, not until you’re good.”

Steve let out a scoff. “Dustin, I’ll be fine. I’m awake now, and now that I’ve got some food in me, I actually feel a little better.” All he got in return was a wary look and all he could do is sigh. “Would it make you feel better if I stayed here _while_ you were at school? You can check on me before you go, call during lunch, and see me after you get out. Will that work?” He could see the other boy think about it until he finally nodded, a defeated sigh. “Good.”

Steve observed Dustin for a moment as he took another bite of his sandwich, noticing that despite the full conversation they had just had, the younger boy seemed to be in his own little world too. It was a stark contrast to the boy who basically demanded that Steve become his second in command when dealing with the Demo-Dogs. He cocked his head to the side. "So, how are you holding up?"

Dustin blinked in surprise. "What?" It became clear in that moment that no one had even thought to ask him how he felt after this entire thing. Steve's heart went out to him a little at that realization.

Steve shrugged, giving an air of nonchalance as to not freak his young friend out. "Just like everyone else in this room, you had a hell of a weekend. And you lost your crazy Demo-Dog pet on top of that. So...how are you feeling?"

Dustin looked away for a moment, seemingly lost for words. He looked down at his hands that were folded in his lap and shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. I've been busy."

Steve felt a pang of guilt, but he offered the other a small smile. "Well, I'm awake now. Do you want to talk about it."

Dustin continued glancing around at his friends, as if them hearing this conversation was the worst thing that could happen to him right now. Dustin just shook his head. "No. At least not right now."

"Okay," Steve replied softly. "You know where to find me if you change your mind." Dustin looked at him with an appreciative smile and nodded.

They sat in silence after that, Steve racking his brain for anything else he needed to address as he finished his sandwich and sipped his water. But at that moment, all he could think about was how physically gross he felt. He ran a hand through his hair and finally got fed up with how greasy it felt. He elbowed Dustin again. “Hey, kid, got a shower I could use?”

Dustin nodded and pointed down the hall. As Steve got up, it felt like the world started shaking around him. He stumbled for a moment and immediately felt a pair of hands around his arm and waist that steadied him. He blinked for a minute, getting used to standing up again and ignoring the looks of concern from the faces that turned their attention directly to him the moment he stood up. He held up a hand, muttering that he was fine and thanking Dustin for keeping him steady, and annoyingly having to insist that he could make it to the bathroom on his own.

He had to slowly shuffle down the hall, but he finally made it. He slid the door shut and latched it before looking in the mirror, something he was dreading to do. It wasn’t near as bad as he was expecting. It didn’t even touch the damage given to him by Jonathan last year. The blood had been cleaned from his face and the majority of the swelling had been taken care of. All that remained were a few cuts, some deeply purple bruises, and a slightly swollen lip. He looked down, expecting to see his black shirt and jeans that he had been wearing a few days ago, but instead, he saw a pair of sweat pants and one of his band shirts. He stood frozen for a second before hurriedly opening the door.

“Who’s clothes am I wearing?” he called out.

“Yours,” he heard a seemingly distant voice call back. “We grabbed some of your clothes from your place before we came back here.”

Steve nodded to himself before another thought struck him and he gulped. “…who saw me naked, then?” he choked out, remembering Max and hoping to god he wasn’t going to have to deal with something that incredibly awkward.

“For Christ sakes, Harrington, I thought you were supposed to be the mature one,” Dustin rang out between laughs.

 “No one saw you naked, asshole. You’re still wearing the same underwear from that night,” Lucas called back at him while a chorus of stifled laughter sounded in the background.

Steve grumbled to himself as he walked back into the bathroom. “Bunch of shits, I swear to god.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I kind of got on a roll and finished another chapter, so I'm just going to post this one while I've got the time. I work two jobs, and one of them is retail oriented, which means that my free time is about to go completely out the window. But I'm hoping I'll be able to crank out consistent chapters for this. I'm not sure how long this story is going to be, because in reality it's really just a short story. Or at least, it's supposed to be. With my mind, it wouldn't surprise me if it grows. 
> 
> Again, any feedback is very welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve gets to bond with the one member of the Party he worries about the most.

Steve didn’t bother caring about how long he showered. As someone who took great care to shower every day and present himself as best as possible, the sheer thought that he hadn’t showered since _Saturday_ (since he had ended up staying with Dustin Saturday night and another opportunity just hadn’t presented itself) made him feel disgusting. And it got worse the longer he thought about it. So he was opting for a long, hot shower because god damn it, he deserved it.

As he stood under the stream of water, he let his mind wander, reflecting on all the reasons why he _did_ deserve it. He lost the first girl he had ever truly loved, and through a drunken tirade no less. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to hear the word ‘bullshit’ again without thinking of spilled punch and broken hearts. Then, _he_ was going to make the first move to make it right with said girl, but instead got pulled into the Apocalypse 2.0 by a thirteen-year-old that he had barely even spoken to before that. And then he  gave said teenager an impromptu therapy session that will undoubtedly save his love life in the future. He turned a junkyard into a war zone, went head to head with fucking “Demo-Dogs”, preserved one of them in an ice box because the aforementioned teenager wanted to, got a fucking beating from the new kid in town to protect that teenager and his three teenage friends, and then got dragged around by all four previously mentioned teenagers to certain death.

He fucking deserved the shower, alright?

It was crazy to him though. The fact that his life on this first Tuesday in November was so vastly different than the last Tuesday in October, just a week ago. And that’s what plagued him as he washed himself off. How did he get here? How long would this last? The previous year things got back to normal fairly quickly, but was that because the government agency looming above their head forced it to be that way? How long would it take this time, and what did normal even mean this time?

He got so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn’t hear the bathroom door open and close, so he was surprised to see a pile of fresh clothes sitting on the bathroom counter as he stepped out of the shower. He chuckled slightly. If the new normal was a group of kids who cared about him, he supposed he could get used to that. He grabbed the towel from the rack, dried himself off and got dressed (in what was just another matching set of sweats).

He sighed as he looked in the mirror, knowing full well that when his hair dried, it was going to be a frizzier, puffier version of itself. It looked like the kids were going to get to see a new side of him today. With one last resolute huff to himself, he opened the door and walked back out to living room…

…where he was instantly greeted with four faces staring expectantly at him (the fifth, Will, sleeping soundly next to Mike). He started back at them for a moment, before waving his hands in front of him. “There’s a tv sitting right there and you guys are waiting to see me in all my glory? I’m flattered.”

That seemed to break the trance on the group as they all collectively groaned at the blatant dad humor. He chuckled to himself as he made his way back to the couch and sat down, picking up the glass of water that he had left behind. Once he settled in, he looked up and noticed that they were all still staring at him, though not as intensely. “Okay, what now?”

“Just…” Lucas started, “…making sure you’re good.”

Steve rolled his eyes and let his head fall back on the couch in exasperation. “Guys, I’m fine. I’m just a little tired. I should be back to normal tomorrow, back in school by Thursday, by which time I’m hoping the bruising has gone away.” He looked at the faces before him, all looking unconvinced and still worried. He sighed. “Look, I know that being asleep for that probably freaked you out. But I swear, I feel fine, aside from just a little soreness. I’m not lying to make you not worry or anything like that. I’m fine. Calm down.”

Before anyone could respond, Steve glanced at the clock, noting that it was around 5. “Mike, when is Byers being collected?”  

Mike blinked and stumbled over his words, taken by surprise at the stark change in conversation. “Uh, like 8, maybe? That’s when Ms. Byers wants him home at least.”

Steve nodded and looked around at the others. “And I take it I’m not getting rid of you two anytime soon?” he asked, motioning to Max and Lucas, who both shook their heads.

“I’m trying to avoid home as much as possible. Billy’s been really quiet since the other night, it’s really creepy. This seems as good a place as any to hang out,” Max explained.

“And I’m not going to be the only person not here, so…” Lucas added with a shrug.

“Okay,” Steve replied. “Any homework?”

“No, not really. Just some worksheets that we’ve already finished.”

Steve bobbed his head in consideration and gave a resolute clap. “Okay then, game plan. I’m still starving, so I’m thinking we order pizza, the lovebirds lay out a short tutor session to catch you two,” he paused to point at Dustin and Mike, “up on what you’ve missed the past couple of days, then we can just watch tv or something until the young Mr. Byers gets picked up, in which case the rest of you will go home as well. There will be no monster hunting, no acts of heroism, just a normal, laid back night. Deal?”

He got various mutters of agreeance plus a couple of suggestions for pizza orders. Almost immediately, the group separated, Max shuffling to Dustin and Lucas over to Mike, each bringing out their notes from school, eager to get that part of the night out of the way. Satisfied, Steve went to order the pizza, settling with an all meats pizza and a cheese pizza. He went back to the living room and settled back into the couch, appreciating the muted sounds of teenagers studying. He let his eyes close, using the moment to relax.

That is, until he felt the couch dip next to him. He opened an eye to see Will situating himself as best as he could. “Everything okay, kid?”

Will looked over at him and nodded, rubbing the sleep out of his eye. “Yeah, I just didn’t want to be in the way over there. Wanted to let Mike focus.” Steve nodded in understanding before taking a good moment to fully look over the boy, who still looked incredibly run down.

“Okay, and how are you doing? You’ve probably had the roughest time the past week; to be honest, I’m still trying to get over the surprise of you being here.” He couldn’t help but feel that way. Will wasn’t there when he bonded with the rest of the gang, and despite his closeness with Mike, it just didn’t make sense for this obviously exhausted child to be in this living room full of kids who were apparently waiting for Steve to self-destruct.

Will shrugged, keeping his eyes resting on his lap. “I’m just really, really tired. I feel like I’ve been doing nothing but sleep for the past two days and it still hasn’t been enough.” Steve smiled softly, relating to the boy in something at least.

“You’ve been through some shit, man. I can imagine it’ll be a little bit before you’re feeling completely like yourself again. Get some sleep if you feel like you need to sleep. No one’s going to hold that against you.” Will nodded his head, though it didn’t seem as if he really took in what the older teen had said. Steve sighed and let it go for now.

They sat in silence for a moment before Will spoke again, so quietly that Steve almost missed it completely. “And I’m here because I wanted to thank you.” The older boy rolled his head to be able to fully look Will in the eyes, reading the quiet torture lying underneath. Will continued. “You kept them safe when all I did was put them in danger—"

Steve immediately reacted and cut him off. “No, nuh-uh, nope you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to blame yourself. I may not know everything that happened with you, I only got snippets of the story, but I did understand the ‘possessed by a demon shadow, hive-mind monster’ part. So unless you’re trying to tell me that you _weren’t_ possessed by said monster and somehow developed powers equal to our dear shaggy-haired El and literally caused all of this on your own, which, by the way would cause me to kick you out of this house immediately…don’t blame yourself for this.” He realized a little too late that that was probably a little too forceful of a way to handle something like this with a kid he’d never even talked to before, but he didn’t know how else to go about it. He just knew that he couldn’t handle one of these kids having a crisis so soon after the last one.

“I should’ve kept running,” Will whispered. “I shouldn’t have tried to stand my ground against something I obviously couldn’t fight.”

Steve observed the younger boy again and sighed. “That still doesn’t make it your fault, Will. What was the other option? Keep running forever? Spend the rest of your life trying to dodge this thing? The bright side is at least by you standing your ground, we were able to end this. It was absolute hell, but it’s over. And everyone’s okay. You can’t focus on what could’ve happened, kid. You just have to focus on the people in front of you and the fact that they’re still in front of you, safe and sound, and from what I can tell, happy.” And he meant it. As they were talking, the two separate pairs had merged into one small group of four who were all laughing and talking amongst themselves as they pointed out different spots in their notes. He looked back down at Will, cautiously placing a hand on his shoulder. “I think it’s safe to say that the next few weeks will be weird at best, but we all made it, and we’ll all make it back to normal. Or at least the closest to normal that we can be at this point.” He put on his best reassuring smile to reinforce his statements.

Will looked away, still not entirely convinced. "Bob didn't make it."

That made Steve stop for a moment. The kid was right, Bob didn't make it. Mike had filled the entire group in on the saga of Bob the Brain and his fight through Hawkins Lab. Bob became Steve's hero after he heard the full story. He sat there stumped for a minute, not sure of how to comfort Will on that particular point. All he knew is that he had to try. "No, he didn't, you're right. And I'll be honest when I say that I'm not entirely sure how to make that easier for you to accept. I'm not actually sure that there is a way. Bob took a huge risk and in the process, saved you, your mom, Mike and Hop. I may not have gotten the honor of meeting him, but I think it's safe to say that it would hurt him more than anything to know that you were blaming yourself for his death. It's obvious, even to me, that he cared about you and your family so much and all he wanted to do was help you. And he did. Bob died a hero, Will, and he didn't die in vain."

The young boy in front of him looked seconds away from breaking down, but he gave a shallow nod nonetheless. Steve used the hand that was settled on Will’s shoulder to pull him in, muttering a soft ‘come here’ before settling into a loose but impactful hug. He didn't care that he hardly knew the kid, he just knew that that kid was in pain. “It’ll be okay, kid. And you have way too many people who will have your back in the meantime.”

“Still, thank you. For helping them and for…well, this. I see why they wanted to be here.”

Steve pulled back, scoffing. “I’m glad one of us does.”

“Will, you okay?” Mike called from across the room. Steve turned to notice that all four of the remain kids were now looking at them.

Will wiped his eye and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.”

Mike accepted the answer and turned back to his notes, though Steve noticed the glances the dark-haired boy threw over multiple times after that.

“Geez, Will, I know that Steve looks like he’s housing a tribble on his head, but that’s no reason to get upset,” Dustin suddenly blurted out.

That elicited a few giggles from the group as Steve’s hand shot up to his head. He could tell that his hair was substantially fluffier than usual, but that was still uncalled for. “It’s not that bad,” he defended, though all that did was cause more laughter. “It’s not that bad!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot BOB. HOW COULD I FORGET BOB. 
> 
> God. Sorry, guys. I'm doing a lot of editing after I post and I know I shouldn't do that. I just think of a lot of things that need to go into a chapter /after/ I post the chapter. So I'm going to start a new system where I write a chapter, then give it a day before I post said chapter because it's honestly making me sick to think of how many people have missed things in this story just because I added them in after the fact. 
> 
> I'm currently writing the fourth chapter, so hopefully that'll get posted soon. Thank you so much for bearing with me. 
> 
> Also, I do swear that this story has a point, it's just taking me a little time to get to it. It's nothing like hard hitting or anything, but it'll happen! 
> 
> Again, any feedback, feel free to leave it with me!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Third kid's a charm.

_Jeopardy!_

Out of all the shows that these five teenagers could’ve picked, Jeopardy! is what they settled with?

Steve knew that the pickings were slim on a Tuesday night, but _come on._

The pizza man had come and gone, and the group of smaller teenagers had finished their study session and were now huddled around the couch with their plates full of pizza. Steve was sitting in the middle of the couch towards the right side with his legs crisscrossed underneath him, Dustin was sitting on his right and Mike and Will were sitting to his left. Sprawled out on the floor in front of him were Max and Lucas. Even Steve had to admit that the sight was probably the exact definition of a Kodak moment, but the entire thing was being ruined by the kids’ choice of entertainment.

Or at least that’s what Steve was going to continue to let them believe. He had mastered looking bored and acting like he didn’t care, but he couldn’t help but be amused by the debates the group of kids had with each question that popped up on the screen. It was amazing what this group of eighth graders knew, and despite the show itself not doing anything for him, he was still properly entertained. It seemed like each of them had their own area of expertise that would make them unstoppable if Jeopardy was a team based game show. Dustin owned every science related question, Lucas nailed the history area, Max didn’t get a single pop culture question wrong, Will murmured the correct answer to almost every art question while Mike did the same with every literature based question. Of course there were things they answered together, especially when a technology category popped up. It was honestly incredible. While Steve eventually caved and started playing along too, there was no touching the skill of the kids in front of him.

About halfway through the show, Steve noticed Will start to doze off again. He also noticed that Mike apparently noticed the same thing, seeing as the moment that Will was properly asleep, Mike became completely stoned face and started caring less and less about the game in front of him. Steve furrow his brow in confusion. The more he thought about it, the kid had been acting strange all night. He had been distant and almost cold, even when part of the study group.

Well, Steve had already counseled two members of this stupid Party tonight, might as well try for a third.

Amid the cries of “Is this guy actually _stupid??_ ” and “Stanford University my ass” and “Yeah, more like Clown University, Jesus Christ”, Steve shifted his weight so that he was angled towards Mike. In a low voice, Steve said, “What’s going on, Wheeler?”

Mike jolted and stared at Steve. “What?” He shook his head, shaking off the surprise. “Nothing, everything’s fine.”

Steve scoffed and shook his head right back. “I see that being terrible at lying runs in the family.” Though he then realized that Nancy had been actually excellent at hiding her feelings in their relationship, so maybe that wasn’t the most accurate statement, but he wasn’ t about to admit that. “I know everyone’s had a rough week, but you seem to be on a different level of unhappy. Which I wasn’t expecting. Will’s not possessed anymore and your girlfriend’s back, I thought you’d be over the moon.”

“Yeah, my best friend had to spend yet another week in hell and has barely been awake for the past two days, and Hopper won’t let me see El. I’m absolutely ecstatic, Steve, thanks for noticing,” Mike snapped back.

It was at that point that Steve noticed that the remaining three members of the party had completely abandoned their pizza and the television and were looking directly at them. In that moment, Steve realized that it was probably the worst time to try and get the most stubborn member of the group to talk to him.

Lucas was the first to speak. “He still hasn’t given you the okay to see her?”

Mike looked at Steve as he pointed his hand at Lucas in a gesture that said _look what you did_. Steve winced back in apology as Mike shook his head with a resigned sigh in response to Lucas.

“After the screaming match you two had a couple of nights ago, I’m really surprised he hasn’t learned that lesson,” Dustin interjected.

 “Guys, she closed the gate two nights ago, she’s probably still worn out. Hopper probably just wants her to focus on resting,” Steve said, trying to remain the neutral third party, especially seeing as how that’s what he actually was. Not that it mattered what he said, since all he got was a thoughtful glance from Max. The other three seemed to have not heard him at all.

“Ms. Byers has talked to Hopper each morning since then and each time I ask her to ask him about El, and each time Hopper either hung up or just completely ignored the question. It’s driving me insane. She fought the Demogorgon last year and made it through that. It’s not as if I’m trying to line her up for the next fight,” Mike argued weakly. Steve could tell by the look on his face that even Mike knew he was grasping for straws.

“We don’t know what happened after the Demogorgon, Mike. For all we know, she could’ve been knocked out for this long after that too. I mean, she freaking disappeared that time, I’d imagine it took a minute to recharge,” Lucas said softly. _Disappeared?_ Steve thought. _She freaking DISAPPEARED?_ Steve sighed as he realized that there was still a lot to this story that he didn’t have yet.

Mike sat quietly for a moment, working something out in his head. “The first time I thought I heard her after the Demogorgon was around Christmas last year. Almost a month and a half…” The younger boy trailed off, but the entire group could figure out the rest. That meant that at most, it took a month and a half for her to recover last time. By the looks he saw on the faces surrounding him, which were all worried and scared faces, even Max, Steve realized he needed to get the rest of the story. And soon. But it could wait.

“Mike…”Steve started softly, measuring his words carefully, “that just means you’ll have to prepare yourself for the possibility that it may be another month or so before you see her again” He spoke softly, but with a pained look on his face.

Mike turned his attention back to Steve and the look on his face almost broke the older teen’s heart. “I can’t do that. I’ll walk to that stupid cabin myself if I have to. She’s strong, she has to be okay. I need to see her.”

Steve could tell that the younger boy was just seconds from actually fulfilling that promise. He placed a hand on the other’s shoulder in an effort to calm him down. “Hey, hey! Look, Hopper’s probably just as freaked out as you are and lord knows that having a headstrong teenager busting down his front door won’t help anything. He was trying to protect her this entire past year, Mike. You’ve got to trust that that’s what he’s doing now.”

Mike was about to hit back, and then he suddenly stopped. Steve looked down and noticed that Will had woken back up and had placed one of his hands over Mike’s. Steve suddenly felt guilty. How was this kid ever supposed to get better if his friends wouldn’t shut up long enough to let him sleep?  However, Will blew right over the concern radiating off of the glorified babysitter and focused on Mike. “He’s right,” he said softly, still sounding groggy from his sleep, as if this conversation was as casual as anything. “If _I’m_ this tired after everything, I can only imagine what El’s going through right now.”

The dark-haired boy looked at his friend and Steve could see the resolve slipping, little by little. “I just need _something_ ,” Mike whispered back. “I need _something_ that will let me know she’s okay. I _need_ Hopper to include me this time.” He let his voice drop even lower, and Steve could only just make out the words: “I loved her first, back when he didn’t even know she existed.”

Those words almost caused Steve to march to the cabin himself. But he was thankful for the rational part of himself that held him back. In the silence of the room, as everyone took their time to process what their friend had just said, Steve thought of all the possible options. The Chief was a powerful and, let’s face it, a terrifyingly intimidating man. Steve was for the most part willing to follow his orders without question, because even if he had no clue what was happening, Hopper always seemed to know what he was doing.

But this time, seeing the hurt on the younger Wheeler’s face, Steve wasn’t so sure Hopper was making the right call this time. Because Mike had a point. When Hopper had been taking every lead possible to try and find Will in the previous year, Mike had been the one getting to know the young girl who wondered off the streets. Steve didn’t have to know the whole story to know that Mike should’ve been the first call the chief made when Eleven turned up.

That’s when he realized that these kids were getting denied all sorts of recognition for their part in the fight against the Upside Down. Even though Hopper and Joyce did a lot of the heavy lifting and Jonathan and Nancy were off doing god knows what, these kids were at the root of all of it. They were the ones who figured out what they were dealing with, how powerful it was, and how to potentially deal with it. And despite Dustin’s very misguided attempt with Dart, they all still banded together to fight the horde. And god, Will housed a shadow demon for days and still found some way to communicate exactly what needed to happen to make it all stop.

These kids were badass. And Steve knew who he was going to fight for.

Steve glanced back up at Mike. “Do you think you can hold out for a few more days?”

Mike turned his head and blinked. “What?”

“A few more days. I know it’s not ideal, but it’s better than a month.”

The younger boy narrowed his eyes. “I’m not following. What do you mean?”

“I’m taking tomorrow off to make sure that I’m completely 100% fine, and also because I don’t really feel like going back to school just yet after everything that’s happened. But Thursday I’m back in full swing. And if Hopper is still being distant and unhelpful Thursday morning, I can go to the station after school and see what’s happening. Break him down a little bit.” Mike’s eyes lit up and Steve put up a hand. “I can’t promise anything, kid. Despite what’s happened the past week, I highly doubt I’m anything more than just another teenager in Hopper’s eyes but…well, if there’s something wrong or anything like that, I’m willing to bet that it’d be a lot easier to confess that to someone who isn’t so emotionally attached to the situation. And being the double agent I am, I’ll tell you everything directly afterwards and we can go from there. Is that a fair compromise?”

Mike hesitated before agreeing. Steve could see the fight swimming in his eyes, and he knew more than anything that Mike would want to go with him. But deep down, he knew that the younger boy knew he was right.

“Okay. And I’m sorry he’s left you out of this, Mike. It’s not fair to you.”

Mike just nodded appreciatively back at him, a sad smile stationed on his face. Steve smiled back, giving one last pat to the other boy’s shoulders before shifting back on the couch.

“Mike,” Dustin interrupted, “who wrote _1984_?”

“George Orwell, why?”

“Congratulations, team. We just won Jeopardy!”

Mike’s head snapped to the television set, his eyes wide. “ _That_ was the Final Jeopardy! question? Are you serious? That’s the easiest question ever!”

And just like that, the atmosphere in the room shifted back to what it was. The air was light and the laughter ensued as each kid tried to brag about how they would’ve carried the team if this had been a real match. Even Will was smiling and accepting another celebratory piece of pizza. Steve just smiled and shook his head, groaning only a little bit when Wheel of Fortune started without anyone moving to change the channel. The entire cycle started again, with bets starting to see who could correctly solve the most amount of puzzles before the on-air players could.

In the end, it was actually Dustin. That quick wit and smart mouth, _that never stopped_ , had to be good for something.   

After that, there was nothing on that interested everyone. So, Dustin pulled out his VHS copy of _Star Wars Episode IV_ , which Steve vehemently disagreed to (“You can’t just watch _one_ Star Wars movie. We don’t have time to watch them both, and the third one hasn’t even come out on VHS yet!”) Steve lost the fight, however, and the movie started (“You’re all insane, I can’t believe I have to hang out with you.”).

They kept watching until Jonathan pulled into the driveway. Everyone groaned as they watched the older Byers walk to the door and they all begged to stay longer. But Steve just shook his head. “Okay, first, it’s a school night. No way in hell are you guys staying any longer. Second, you’re all driving me crazy, I need you to leave,” he said with a small smile on his face.

When Jonathan knocked, Steve was the one to answer the door. Jonathan looked surprised. “H-hey, you’re awake!”

Steve chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, it’s amazing what the annoying presence of five young teenagers can accomplish.”

Jonathan awkwardly chuckled and nodded his head. “Yeah, I understand that feeling.” He shifted his gaze to avoid eye contact, and Steve could sense a conversation about a certain girl that he didn’t want to have, especially in front of the other kids. He ducked his head to force Jonathan to look him in the eye.

“Look, I’m not looking to have _that_ conversation right now. Just know we’re cool, alright? No hard feelings.”

Jonathan let out a shaky sigh of relief and nodded with a small smile. “Okay, then.” He looked past Steve and waved to his brother and Mike. “Will, Mike, you guys ready to go?”

The two boys reluctantly got up from their positions on the couch and started collecting their things. Steve turned his attention back to Jonathan and lowered his voice. “Would you mind to drop Max and Lucas off too?” The events of the other night were a lot fresher in his mind than everyone else’s. He wanted to make sure that those kids, as idiotic as they were, got home as safely as possible. Jonathan eyed him suspiciously, but nodded all the same. “Cool, thanks.” He turned back around and called to Max and Lucas to let them know the new plan. They were both concerned about their bikes, but after reassurances from Jonathan that he could fit them in the trunk of his car, they felt better about it and went willingly.

Once the bikes were packed up and the kids were loaded in the car, Dustin and Steve stood on the porch to wave at the others as they drove off. The car rounded the corner and Steve dropped his hand. He stood still for a moment, then looked down at Dustin.

“Wanna finish the movie?”

Dustin grinned back up at him. “Yup.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I technically lied. I'm posting this one really soon after the other one. I don't know why, I'm just excited, I guess. This is the first fic that I've written in a really, /really/, long time. I'm very possibly getting ahead of myself, but I'm taking the small victories.


	5. Chapter 5

Steve awoke the next morning face down on the couch with a heavy weight spread out on top of him. He looked over his should to see Dustin still snoring away with his head on the other end of the couch and his legs laying across the top of Steve’s body. Groaning softly to himself, Steve looked around, noting that the TV and the VCR were still on, a blue screen glaring him in the face, almost demanding an explanation as to why it wasn’t shut off. He glanced up at the clock, relieved to find that it was only 6:30 AM, meaning that Dustin hadn’t missed school.

After a few more minutes to allow himself to fully wake up, Steve carefully got up from the couch. Well, that’s not entirely true. In an effort to not disturb Dustin, he ended up shimming until he kind of just landed on the floor. But the younger boy just snorted in his sleep, readjusted and continued snoring away. Steve chuckled to himself as he watched Dustin slump even further onto the sofa, fully spreading out as he now had the entire space to himself. Steve went to turn off the TV and VCR and headed into the kitchen to see what their options were for breakfast.

He poked in the refrigerator and found eggs and bacon, and after a moment of checking to see all the materials were there, decided to bring some pancakes into the equation. Steve figured after the last few days of the young twerp taking care of him, a good breakfast before school was the least he could do. Besides, he liked cooking, and lord knows he had plenty of experience cooking for himself. There’s only so many times you can make yourself Kraft dinners before you decide it’s time to break out an actual cookbook and teach yourself to make decent food.

It’s not that Steve’s parents didn’t love him, or treated him horribly, or anything like that. Yeah, his dad could be an asshole about things sometimes, but really only when it came to Steve not holding up expectations for a perfect family image. The reality of the situation was just that they were never really… _there_. His dad was away to different conferences or meetings or whatever the hell he did constantly. He was gone so often that Steve honestly really didn’t know what it was that his father even did for a living. And his mom liked to go with his dad whenever she got the chance, increasingly so when Steve was around thirteen or so. Old enough to look after himself while they were away, at least.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had a meaningful conversation with either of them. It was typically just asking about grades or girls or basketball, and more recently prospective colleges. When it came to the deep stuff though, he was willing to bet that his parents didn’t know a single thing about him.

Steve hardly even minded anymore, though. He got used to that disappointment a long time ago. Not to mention that his parents at least always brought him something back from wherever they wandered off to.

He set right to work, having to take a few minutes to locate the dishes and utensils he would need. He then whipped together the mix for the pancakes while the pans warmed in front of him. He was saving the eggs for last, since scrambling eggs took relatively no time at all and Steve just really wasn’t in any particular mood to get fancier. And if Dustin didn’t like scrambled eggs…well tough.

It took mere minutes from the time the bacon started sizzling for Dustin to walk into the kitchen. He seemed cautious, as if he were expecting a burglar to be standing in front of him, cooking the food before it was stolen away from him. The younger boy blinked back his surprise and laughed.

“I didn’t know you cooked, Harrington,” Dustin grinned as he took a seat on the counter near the stove, close enough to the food without actually being in the way; Dustin had mastered the art form.

Steve smirked. “Yeah, well…” he flipped a pancake in the air, being as impressive as he knew he was. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he added with a wink.

Dustin chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Yeah? Like what?” he asked as he grabbed for a fresh piece of bacon, before promptly dropping it again due to the heat. Steve gave him a warning look, trying to get across the _just fucking wait until it’s all done_ message.

Steve turned back to the stove as he thought about the question, pressing the pancake into the pan slightly before flipping it out onto a waiting plate on the counter. The light bulb in his head flashed and he grinned wickedly. He chuckled to himself. “I don’t know, kid. I don’t think you could handle it.”

Dustin shot him a look. “Try me, meat head.”

It was Steve’s turn to roll his eyes as he lightly pushed the younger teen. “I almost don’t want to tell you now, that was so rude” That sentence didn’t phase Dustin at all, as he kept staring at the older boy expectantly until he caved. “Fine,” Steve conceded. For dramatic effect, he took a deep breath and held it, letting the pause linger in the air until finally: “I have actually, sort of, played DnD.”

There was a silence in the air, and Steve actually had to look up from his cooking to see Dustin sitting wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open. He bit his tongue to hold back his laughter has he scooped more of the pancake mix into the pan and flipped over the remaining pieces of bacon, acting as if his previous statement was the most casual thing in the world.

Then suddenly, Dustin exploded. “WHAT? When? What edition did you play? What character? How was the campaign? What monsters did you have to fight? STEVE TALK TO ME?”

Steve just stared at his curly-haired friend, failing to hold back his chuckles this time. “Calm down, calm down. There’s a reason I said ‘sort of’. My dad bought me the basic set when it first came out. I was a little younger than you were, like 12, maybe? But he wasn’t around much, my mom definitely wasn’t interested and neither were any of my friends. I kind of played around anyways with it though. Created a pretty decent fighter and started writing a campaign of my own. But, you know, since no one was going to play it, I gave up on it pretty quickly.”

As the bacon was on its last couple of minutes cooking, Steve took the time to flip the pancakes and ready the egg mix. He scooped the finished bacon out of the pan and onto the plate, draining the excess grease into a bowl he had laid out previously, and then poured the egg mix into that pan. He found that the remaining grease added just the subtlest hint to the eggs if you could get past how unhealthy it probably was.

All the while, Dustin just gaped at him, speechless. It wasn’t until the last of the pancakes were finished and the eggs were almost done before he spoke again. “That settles it, you have to play with us.”

Steve scoffed, shooting Dustin a glance. “Yeah, okay.” He finished stirring the eggs, and satisfied with their texture, split them between two awaiting plates.

“I’m serious! We have too much magic in the group. More brute strength is exactly what we need!”

The older boy laughed to himself and shook his head as he grabbed the plates and headed to the table, an excited Dustin following him closely. “Even if I wanted to play with you losers, I saw how Mike treated Max. He seems touchy with the Party. I don’t want to mess with that, or the headache it would probably be to even get him to let me play.”

Dustin shot back immediately, “Not if you make headway with Hopper. Hell, that might put you above _Will_ in his eyes and do you understand how _impossible_ that is??”

Steve laughed humorlessly, going to the fridge to grab some juice, pouring some for both him and the other kid. He had almost forgotten that he had agreed to that, and he still felt completely out of his element about it. He went back to the table and handed Dustin his glass before sitting down himself. He sighed, taking a bite of egg as he rubbed his head, wincing slightly as he hit a bruise. “Yeah, I’m betting it’s pretty impossible. Which is why I highly doubt it.”

But Dustin didn’t even hear him. He was too busy scarfing down the food in front of him. Steve smacked him lightly on the arm, telling him to slow down before he choked. The younger boy grinned sheepishly, but did as he was told, throwing out a complement to the chef.

As they ate, Dustin explained the party dynamic. Who had what characters, past campaigns, how Mike was probably the best campaign writer in existence, to which Steve muttered that he would let Mike see his old campaign and see if he could do anything with it, which earned him a grin from the curly-haired teenager.

Once they had finished eating, Steve grabbed the plates and headed to the sink, kicking Dustin out of the kitchen so he could get ready for school. As he looked around the kitchen, Steve was eternally grateful that the Henderson household had a dishwasher. He started loading it up, and by the time he was finished, Dustin was dressed and collecting his things for the day.

As the younger boy finished up, he walked over to Steve. “Okay, so I’m about to leave. I’m still going to call at lunch, so just make sure you’re here, alright?” he asked, raising up his fist.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll be here,” Steve replied rolling his eyes, but he bumped the waiting fist with his own nonetheless. Dustin grinned at him and started making his way to the door. Steve called after him, pointing his finger briefly. “Have a good day, learn shit.” He then brought the hand to his nose to pinch the bridge there in mock pleading. “And for god’s sake, if you find an unidentified slug in the god damn trash, just leave it alone.”

The younger boy flipped him off as he got on his bike and headed down the street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, welcome to my filler chapter! You'll probably actually have a couple of these before the big 'show down' with Hopper, so I hope you enjoy the fluff! 
> 
> As for the DnD thing, I don't feel that it's /completely/ ooc, or anything. It first rolled out in 1974, and then the basic set came out in '77, which would've been around the time Steve was 11 or so, according to the wiki anyways lol. In my head, he's basically still a few years from being too cool for everything at that point. 
> 
> As for his parents....honestly I wasn't completely sure what to do with them. Being the only teenager in the show (literally) to not have their parents introduced yet, and only having one line to go off of otherwise, I kind of just played with it in my mind. 
> 
> Anyways. Let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

As Steve made his way back into the house, he was desperately trying to figure out what to do with his day. He was never one for sitting still for too long, and after being knocked out cold for as long as he was, he was itching to do _something_. But he had promised the kid he would take it easy. And damn him if he was going to go back on that.

He looked around the living room, noting that the plates, glasses, and even the pizza had yet to be cleaned up. Steve shrugged and got to work. Not the most glamorous of busy work, hell not even the busiest busy work, but it was something. He grabbed the plates and glasses, rinsing them out before putting them in the dishwasher and, satisfied with load amount, starting a cycle. After looking at the pizza, he concluded that it wasn’t worth it to save, so stuffed the pizza box in the trash bag in the kitchen. Then, after realizing that it was trash day, he dragged the bag and the outdoor trashcan out to the curb.

That killed a whopping ten minutes.

With a determined huff of breath, he searched the house high and low to see what sort of cleaning task, or any task  _at all_   he could occupy himself with. But much to his chagrin, aside from Dustin’s room, the rest of the house was spotless. He had to give the younger boy credit for keeping the place clean, because there’s no other way this house sailed by five days without even needing to be dusted.

With a resigned sigh, Steve settled back on the couch and turned on the TV. He flipped through the channels, finally settling on a morning talk show, letting it play as background noise for his thoughts.

He knew that there was a 99% chance that he would be talking to Hopper the next day. It would take an actual miracle for Hopper to be open and honest in such a short amount of time, and Steve was regretting not giving the man a bigger time frame. But he knew it was too late to turn back now, so all he could do was try and figure out what to say.

Should he just out right ask, be blunt? _Nah, that’s a sure fire way to come across as confrontational, and a sure fire way to get my ass kicked out of the station._ Make small talk first? _Does the Chief_ look _like someone who appreciates small talk?_ Mask the entire thing by going in to give an update about the kids and himself and then gracefully sliding into seeing about getting Hopper to open up? _That—_

That could be something.

And like magic, the plan unfolded in front of his eyes. Well, behind them, as he had closed his eyes in an attempt to let himself concentrate as much as possible. Which was apparently not a good idea, seeing as hours later he was jolted awake by the phone ringing. He glanced up at the clock and sighed as he realized that he had spent the entire morning asleep. The phone rang again. He dragged himself off the couch and to the phone, clearing his throat of the grogginess before speaking.

“Henderson residence, Steve not-Henderson speaking.”

He heard a groan on the other end of the line. “Please tell me you haven’t had to answer the phone before this call today. That’s the worst introduction you could’ve possibly come up with,” Dustin pleaded through the phone.

“What, you don’t like it? I think it gets the point across. You have indeed called the Henderson residence, but you are in fact not talking to a Henderson.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “You are officially banned from answering the phone anymore today.”

Steve chuckled. “Wasn’t planning on it anyways. How’s school?”

“Fine I guess,” Dustin said dryly. “It’s school. Classes are boring, people are being stupid assholes in their speculations about why Mike and Will are both gone, and there’s no AV club today, so it’s honestly just not where I want to be right now.”

The smile slid from Steve’s face. “What are they saying?”

He heard the other boy breath in a deep sigh. “Just stupid shit, nothing that we haven’t heard before. The popular consensus is that they’re off on their honeymoon. As if the entire student body didn’t know about the episodes Will was having last week.” He sighed again. “Tasteless,” Dustin added quietly.

Steve sighed with the other boy. He was no stranger to how horrible middle-schoolers could be. Hell, he had been one of them. “Give it a couple of days, kid. Soon enough, they’ll both be back in school, and soon enough after that, it’ll be old news. Just make sure Mike doesn’t kill someone in the meantime.”

“Yeah, I’ll have to, since NO ONE AROUND HERE WILL DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT,” Dustin said, raising his voice at the end, presumably to emphasize his words to the administrative staff surrounding him. Steve was positive he could actually _hear_ the stern look that was shot at Dustin. Just the thought of it was enough to make him smirk.

“Okay, okay, don’t get yourself kicked out on your first day back, chill out.”

“It’s just stupid, you know? It’s not as if everyone’s been staying quiet about this shit. The teachers have heard everything and not a single thing has been said,” the other responded, sounding a little defeated as his voice returned back to a normal tone.

Steve let out a huff, knowing that the boy was right. It was more or less the same at the high school.

“Anyways,” Dustin continued after a short pause, “how do you feel? How’s the house?”

“Oh me?” Steve bounced back, trying to lighten the tone back up. “Yeah, I’m fine. Cleaned up after last night, slept for a few more hours, watched a little TV, you know, your typical sick day. The house, on the other hand, is gone. Completely destroyed. One hundred percent. Turns out I forgot to turn off the stove this morning and just…BOOM, ya know?”

“Ha ha, very funny,” Dustin deadpanned. “Just make sure that doesn’t actually happen, Steve, or you’ll be the one explaining to my mom why she had to lose both a beloved cat and her son’s childhood home.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll even be sure to tell her the gory details about the cat being ripped apart by an alternate dimension monster. She’ll need to know all the facts, of course.”

“Dude, just shut up.” Steve laughed as he heard a few more grumbled curses fly his way before Dustin went quiet for a moment.

Steve waited before saying, “You still there, man?”

“Y-yeah, yeah,” the other boy said quickly. “I just…well, I have a favor to ask.”

Steve groaned dramatically. “What now?”

“Could you maybe give me a ride to the pet store so I could get my mom a new cat? I feel kind of bad since, you know, I’m the reason her old one got eaten.”

Steve paused for a moment, really letting the silence sink in. He couldn’t believe he was _actually_ the new chauffeur for these people. “Did you….did you really just ask me to take you to get a new cat?”

The other end was quiet before Steve heard: “….yes?....Please?”

The older boy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, something he had a feeling he’d be doing a lot from now on. “Fine. Fine, but you realize that means that I have to go get my car, right? Are you giving me permission to leave and get my car?” He stopped for a moment and then continued. “Wait, no, I don’t need permission. If you want me to take you to the store, I have to go get my car, that’s the end of that. It’s only a few miles, I can make it in like an hour and a half or so. Go to my own home, actually fix my hair—“

Dustin quickly interrupted him. “Yes, fine, Jesus, do whatever you have to and spare me the details. I have to go. Don’t die before you get to your car. Your bat is sitting in my room.”

Before Steve could respond, Dustin had hung up the phone. Steve hung the phone back on the receiver, shaking his head. Looked like Steve was going to have to give a lesson on _manners_.

He found his way back to Dustin’s room and his eyes immediately landed on the bat, it’s nails causing it to sit out from the wall, as if it was presenting itself to him. If it wasn’t such a damn safety hazard, Steve might have been mesmerized. Or sickened, considering he had had to use that bat way too many times already in his life time. His eyes wandered to the side of Dustin’s bed, where he saw his one of his own duffle bags sitting there with clothes peeking out of it. He went over and ruffled through the bag, thankful to see that there were some actual jeans in there so that he wouldn’t have to be walking the streets in sweats.

He quickly changed and pulled his shoes on. He opted to leave the bag there, seeing as he would have to bring Dustin home at some point. Instead, he carefully picked up the bat, and shuffled out of the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! 
> 
> A bit of a delay, but here's chapter 6! Another filler chapter, but I'm more or less planning to pick up a little bit more next chapter, and then definitely the chapter after that. So bear with me!
> 
> I also just have to say that I am actually overwhelmed at the response this has gotten. A few comments and a few hundred kudos may not seem like much, but with this being my first fic in (literally) 6 years, it's crazy to me. So thank you so much for reading and letting me know what you think!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How’s Eleven?” Oh, okay, we’re doing this then. Perfect.

Steve walked down the side of the road with this head down, occasionally looking up only to make sure he was heading in the right direction. He didn’t want any distractions, he just wanted to get his car and head home. He wanted to be able to take a shower, fix his hair, watch some TV, and just feel like his old self again, at least for a minute. The old self that didn’t have to worry about alien invasions every 30 seconds or whether or not a thirteen-year old would be able to find a replacement cat. Because while he was gradually becoming more accepting of his apparent new life, he was still only eighteen himself. He just wanted to feel like that again for just a little bit.

He was vaguely aware of the sound of breaks squealing behind him and he tightened his grip on the bat, just in case.

“What the actual hell do you think you’re doing?” Steve’s head snapped up at the gruff sounding voice. He slowly turned to see a brown and tan truck that belonged to the Hawkins Chief of Police, the man in question sitting behind the wheel with a tired expression written upon his face.

Steve sputtered back in response. “I’m just….car, is that…have to get a cat...” he choked out as he pointed down the road to his destination. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t expected to deal with anyone on his walk, let alone Jim Hopper, who he had been fully planning on confronting _tomorrow_ ; he was lost for words.

Hopper rolled his eyes. “Want to try that again?”

Steve took a deep breath and collected himself. “My car. I left it by the tracks the other day and I haven’t been able to get it, on account of, you know, being knocked out for two days. So, I’m going to get it.”

Hopper eyed him for moment, squinting at the bat before speaking. “Sure, okay. And you just happened to think that carrying around a nail-driven bat on an open road in the middle of the day would be a good idea?” Steve opened his mouth to respond but the Chief cut him off, a fierce look in his eye. “Do you know how many calls we’ve gotten just in the past thirty minutes, kid? Eight. We’ve gotten _eight calls_ about a ‘suspicious asshole’ walking down the street with a ‘suspicious weapon’. Flo’s going bananas, get in the damn truck.”

The teenager just gaped at the older man, causing the latter to lose his cool. “NOW.”

Steve didn’t need telling a third time. He scrambled to get in the truck, carefully placing the bat behind his seat. With a quick muttering of directions to Steve’s parked car, the two drove off, settling into an uncomfortable silence. It wasn’t often that Steve had to deal with the raised voice of someone his senior, but he didn’t like it when it happened.

Suddenly, the Chief sighed, running a hand along his face, his tired eyes becoming even more evident. “Why do you have the damn bat, kid?” His voice matched his expression, a resigned tone replacing the firm one that came through before.

The younger man glanced back at the bat, suddenly feeling foolish that he had brought it.  He looked down at his hands in his lap, shrugging. “It’s been a long week, Chief. I know that the gate was shut and everything, but it still feels off, you know? Like it’s not actually over. I have no idea if it’s because I was out for so long or if I passed out before I got the complete closure, but I’m still on edge.”

There was a pause in the truck before Hopper sighed again. “I know what you mean. Second year of this shit, it’s hard to believe that it’s actually over.” Steve just nodded, not really sure how to continue. Out of everyone, the Chief was the one he had interacted with the least through this entire thing. They were in this together, but at the same time, they were so distant from each other. He instantly felt more intimidated about talking to the Chief for Mike. “You said you were out for a couple of days, how you doing?”

Steve blinked back his surprise from the break of silence. “I…well, I felt good enough to make the hike to my car, so fine, I guess.”

Hopper cracked a smirk, taking the teenager by surprise yet again. “People test their limits all the time, guy. That’s not the best judge of wellness.”

Steve chuckled and shook his head. “No, I guess not. But really, I’m fine. Turns out, the brats are actually pretty good caretakers whenever you can get them to stop bickering.”

That statement actually took Hopper by surprise, a turn of events that had Steve smirking to himself. “You’re telling me that a group of twelve-year olds took care of you while you were knocked unconscious?”

Steve beamed like the proud mother that he apparently now was. “Yeah, weirdly enough. My parents were gone, Dustin’s mom was out looking for the cat, Ms. Byers was busy with Will, and I guess they just didn’t want to get the other parents involved. So, they became my nurses. Or, Dustin did, at least. Cleaned me up and everything. But mostly just made sure I wasn’t actually dead.”

The Chief chuckled, shaking his head. “I don’t know what it is about this town and dishing out badass kids, but I’ll take it. Though Little Red did quite the number on her brother. From what I could tell, he deserved it though.”

Steve quirked an eyebrow. “Lucas said you took him to the hospital?”

Hopper shook his head. “Nah. I almost did, but I just took him home. He was starting to stir as I was driving, so I didn’t see any point. I did, however, tell him that the next time I hear of him causing any type of trouble that I wouldn’t hesitate to throw his ass in jail for a night or two and that if he knew what was good for him, he’d leave his sister and the rest of the kids the hell alone.”

The younger man laughed. “I’m sure they’ll love the embarrassment of having the chief of police threatening the local bully for them.” He shrugged slightly and continued. “But there are worse things.”

Steve saw his car coming up on the side of the road, so he signaled to the older man to pull over. As the Chief came to a stop, Steve paused in his seat, an internal battle rising in his mind. Should he talk to him now? Or should he wait, give Hopper one more day?

“How’s Eleven?” _Oh, okay, we’re doing this then. Perfect._

Hopper started, glancing briefly over at his passenger before glancing down at his radio. “She’s fine. A little worn out, but she’s fine.”

Steve scoffed. Even without knowing the man in front of him that well, he could tell that he was being lied to. “A little worn out, yeah…I know that feeling…” _Be graceful, Harrington, don’t blurt, be cool…_

“…So why aren’t you letting Mike know anything?” _Smooth. Your best work, honestly. A+._

Hopper’s face hardened in an instant, his gaze shifting back to Steve. “What?”

Steve gulped silently, shifting to stand his metaphorical ground. “Mike. He said that every morning he asks Ms. Byers to ask you about Eleven and seeing her and that you avoid it each time. Why are you shutting him out again?”

The Chief shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “She’s never asked, so I’m not shutting him out.”

Steve narrowed his eyes. “Look, I know I’m just some kid to you, here, but honestly, _bullshit_. That kid has listened in on more conversations with Nancy and I than I can count, there’s no way that he wouldn’t be standing directly beside Ms. Byers when she’s talking to you. He would know if she wasn’t asking, and considering he’s blaming _you_ , I’m still not convinced that you’re not shutting me out.”

Hopper groaned. “What do you want from me here?  She’s wiped out I’m just trying to let her rest.”

“Sure, and I understand that, but letting Mike come over for just a little bit for like a day isn’t going to hurt anything. Hell, might even raise her spirits. I know it’d sure as hell raise hers.” Steve observed as the older man started tapping his fingers rapidly on the steering wheel. “Seriously, you can’t shut him out again. You saw how he reacted when he saw her again, he’s a wreck, man. A moody, unpleasant mess.”

“That’s why I can’t tell him anything,” Hopper replied, frustration dripping from his tone.

Steve paused, eying the older man in front of him. “What?”

“I don’t want to tell him anything yet. I can’t. And I can’t let him come over.”

Steve felt his own frustration building. “Are you going to tell me why? Because honestly, empty ‘I can’t’s aren’t doing anything—”

“She hasn’t woken up yet,” Hopper interrupted, the tired look on his face back in full force. And just like that, all the frustration that the younger man felt went out the window.

Steve shrunk back into his seat, his hand playing with the hem of his shirt. “What?” he asked quietly.

Hopper rub a hand over his eyes and leaned back in his own seat. “She collapsed almost immediately after shutting that gate. It was awful, she was floating, she was using so much power, blood coming from her nose, her ears. She put a lot on the line that night, kid. And she hasn’t woken up. She’s still alive, from what I can tell, but she’s been out cold this entire time. I’ve been home with her, the only reason I left the cabin today was because your stupid ass was walking the street with that bat. I recognized your description, I was worried something else was happening.”

The teenager slowly nodded, processing the information. This was going to be a bit more a of messy situation than he originally thought. “In that case, I won’t take much more of your time,” he sighed. “I understand why you haven’t talked to him, I really do. But I’m also standing by my belief that you need to.” Hopper sighed, looking sideways at the boy beside him. “Chief, have you even seen Mike since that night?” After seeing the older man shake his head, he continued. “He’s miserable, verging on depressed. His best friend just went through hell, and he doesn’t know what’s happening with one of his other best friends. He’s worrying a lot more than a kid his age should be.” Steve sighed and sat up straighter. “And I really hate to pull this card, but Mike was in this first. He deserves to be in the loop here.”

Hopper started to shake his head. “He doesn’t need to worry more about this, it could be nothing.”

Steve scoffed. “Or it could be something. Look, I’m not asking you to ask him to move in. I’m asking you to talk to him and be honest with him. That’s what he needs right now, just to be included. And even if he does ask to come over, would that really be the worst thing? How was he when Will was in the lab? Was he causing problems?”

The Chief tapped his thumb on the wheel again, not making eye contact. “I’ll think about it.” He could see the protest building in the younger boy’s eyes and sighed. “I’ll think about it, alright? You may have some points.”

Steve sighed and nodded, knowing that that was probably the best he was going to get for the day. “Fine. But really think about it, alright. I’ve noticed Mike’s mood tends to rub off on everyone else, I don’t need five moody teenagers on my hands.”

Hopper snorted. “Look, I really don’t need the tales of your adventures in babysitting. Just get out of the truck and stay out of trouble. I need to get back to the cabin.”

Steve nodded, grabbing his bat. With a quick salute, he hopped out of the truck, watching as the Chief drove off down the road. Thinking back on the conversation he just had with the man, he wasn’t sure if it actually did any good, but he had to hope. He turned to his car, grabbing his keys out of his pocket. He opened the trunk and tossed the bat in, hoping that he would never have to take it out again.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS! I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to get a chapter out to you. With Thanksgiving and Black Friday and the fallout at work because of both, it's been a crazy time. I feel like I almost have to rewatch Stranger Things just to get back in touch with the characters because DAMN has it been a hot minute.
> 
> Anyways, Hopper! He's probably the most nervous I've felt about writing a character so far, so let me know what you think!
> 
> As always, I'm completely blown away by the support you guys have shown me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve reflects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guyssssss
> 
> I'M SORRY
> 
> Here's a short filler chapter just to kind of tide you over and let you know that I haven't jumped ship! 
> 
> I do have another chapter in progress I'll probably release today as well, it was just on course to make this chapter incredibly long and not flow well, so I decided to break it up.

Steve let out a deep sigh as he pulled into the driveway of his house. It was only two in the afternoon and it felt like one of the longest days that he had ever had in his life. He was still reeling from the conversation that he had just had with Hopper, and the longer he dwelt on the talk, the more unsure he felt about it all. Had he done the right thing, forcefully suggesting that Mike be included, only four days after everything had happened? Had he pushed too hard, too quickly? Had he even pushed _enough?_

These were all things that he realized he would have to wait and find out about, and it was far too late for the thought of consequences.

Instead, he just stared up at the house before him. It seemed to be empty still, at least he couldn’t see either of his parent’s vehicles. He vaguely remembered them telling him that they would be gone for a little while, but he couldn’t remember the details. But regardless, he knew that by stepping into the house, he’d be stepping into the quiet and empty shell of what he thought home was supposed to be.

This place had never really been home to him. That’s not to say that he had never known a home. Before his father’s career took off, his family was the perfect Kodak picture of a loving and warm home. One filled with laughter and smiles and support. 

But, this current house, with its two story frame, heated pool, and luxurious layout, was just a house. A house that Steve Harrington, King of Hawkins High, was all about, since it was essentially the perfect castle to his crown. But it was quiet. It was still. It was lonely. The past year had done wonders to make him realize that a house doesn’t make a home, and honestly a home is more preferable.

He supposed he really had Nancy to blame for that, seeing as she was really the only one to actually make him want something more than the occasional hook up and free-wheeling lifestyle. It’s part of the reason that he had started spending less and less time at his own house. But between this house being the site of Barb’s disappearance and the lack of a warm environment, Steve was looking forward to the day that he would start out on his own, and find the home he had been missing.

He sighed once again before kicking the car door open and climbing out, deciding he would only stay as long as it took to take a shower, put on normal clothes and grab something to eat. He ascended the steps to his house and shoved the key into its port and walked inside. He took a moment to observe the place, and as he expected, it was largely untouched, with the exception of a thin layer of dust coating everything around him.

He quickly turned and headed straight to the bathroom, eager to wash off the long walk he had earlier and set his hair back into place. He quickly showered, pleased to smell his Fabergé Organics shampoo and conditioner, then proceeded to get dressed in the few minute window that he gave himself for his hair to get to that damp stage so he could use the Farrah spray. He settled on a pair of jeans and one of his sweaters, in his mind thankful that the weather was finally getting to the point that he could wear them.

However, he stopped short as he walked back into the bathroom, and found that his outstretched hand was grasping the air around where his Farrah Fawcett spray was _supposed_ to be. He scanned the counter once…twice…and three times over and didn’t see it _anywhere_. “Dustin…” he growled to himself. At that point, he wasn’t quite sure that the younger boy would survive to buy his new cat.

Steve took one more deep breath and walked to his parent’s bathroom, thankful that his mom used the same products that he did. He sprayed his hair four times, running his hands through the hair to get it styled the way he wanted. Once he was satisfied, he nodded to himself in the mirror and headed downstairs.

He noticed that it was about 2:30 at that point and he only had a small amount of time left before he had to go. But he also knew that if he didn’t eat something soon, his stomach was going to revolt. So, he made a quick sandwich, paired it with chips and a Coke, and he was out the door within 15 minutes.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love you all. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and being so incredibly supportive!
> 
> I'm hoping that I'll be able to do more consistent updates soon. I'm in the process of trying to find a new job that would provide me a bit more stability than I have now, so between that and the two jobs that I currently have that are whooping my ass thanks to the holidays, I've fallen behind. But I have no plans to abandon this story, so bear with me!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He pulled his keys out of the ignition and hopped out of the car, trying to dampen his frustration before confronting the kids. Because while Steve may have needed the time to let his essay unfold before his eyes, it still wasn’t cool to tell a guy to come get you after school and then make said guy wait on your slow ass.

At 3:00 on the dot, Steve was pulling up to the school, stalling in the long line of cars who were also waiting to pick up middle school aged brats. The doors of the school opened soon after and a sea of kids flooded out of the doors. Steve scanned the horizon and didn’t notice Dustin or any of the other Party members. Steve shrugged and settled back into his seat to wait.

He looked around his car and noticed the rough draft of his application essay sitting in the floor board in front of the passenger seat. It had been sitting there since the week prior, Steve not having been motivated to look at it again since Nancy critiqued it. He sighed and leaned over to pick up with the intention of editing it himself. Now that he and Nancy were decided _not_ a thing anymore, he didn’t really see much of a reason to stay in Hawkins any longer, with the exception of just not really wanting to go to college in the first place. Academics just weren’t really his thing and he didn’t really know what he actually wanted to do with his life. He didn’t want to waste his years in college when he wasn’t really sure he’d be happy with the result on the other side.

Steve grabbed the pen that was laying on his console and got to work. However, that didn’t mean that he saw the changes that need to be made. He just couldn’t see the problems with it that Nancy could. So what if he talked about his win in basketball and his grandfather’s win in the war? They’re connected! Though…he had to admit that it may be a little bit repetitive… _Hey! That’s a start!_ He scratched out the section about his grandfather. While the stories he got from the old man were great…well, in honesty, they were hard to relate to.

As he started reading through the rest of the paper a second time, he realized that it was all wrong. The events of the past week had for sure changed his outlook on many different things, but he wasn’t even sure that he ever actually identified with the words written before him. They meant nothing, they were just a means to an end.

He ended up grabbed his notebook from his backpack sitting in the back seat and starting completely over. He wrote, and wrote, spilling his thoughts and feelings from the past week onto the paper. He wasn’t even sure if it made sense, and he knew that if he was really going to use this as an admissions essay that he would have to go back and change a lot of the details, lest he want the government to come down on him, but it was therapeutic. He needed it.

Steve finally hit a natural break in his writing, getting stuck on a conclusion, which always seems to be the problem. He glanced up at the clock on the dash, his eyes bulging when he realized it was close to 4 at that point. And there was still no sign of Dustin. The street around him was completely empty. The only comfort he had was that he could at least still see two bikes at the bike rack.

He pulled his keys out of the ignition and hopped out of the car, trying to dampen his frustration before confronting the kids. Because while Steve may have needed the time to let his essay unfold before his eyes, it still wasn’t cool to tell a guy to come get you after school and then make said guy wait on your slow ass.

He entered the school, mildly surprised that the building was still unlocked considering the lack of cars in the parking lot. The halls were quiet, and he groaned as he realized he was seriously going to have to walk the entire place to find his twerps. He turned down the first hallway, peaking his head into every open classroom he passed, knocking on all the closed doors, looking into the bathroom, and even knocking on a few lockers just to be safe. He rounded a corner and immediately heard a laugh coming from behind a door on his left.

_A.V. Club._

_Of course._

Steve let out a hard breath through his nose and opened the door. What he saw next softened him up more than he would like to admit.

Dustin, Lucas, and Max were all huddled around what Steve assumed was a high powered radio of some kind. Max was halfway through a large laugh as Dustin was trying to tell Lucas that his British accent was shit, before taking the mic himself and speaking through it with a horrible accent of his own. It warmed him to see these kids getting back to some semblance of a normal life.

Steve sighed but smirked. “This is the reason why I’ve been sitting outside in my car for an hour? _Seriously?”_ he asked, his tone light, all the frustration having melted out of him as the three kids turned their attention to him, all smiling and waving at him enthusiastically. “Tutoring for missing a couple of days I could see, but trying to get in touch with Princess Di? You know she’s married, right, Dust? Don’t make yourself seem too desperate, kid.” Dustin promptly flipped him off while Max and Lucas giggled.

“Mr. Clark was finally able to replace this thing. He surprised us with it Monday and we decided to surprise Dustin with it today. We were just having a little fun with it,” Lucas responded, smile still wide on his face.

Steve smiled back and nodded. “Well, I guess I can’t argue with that. I think we all deserve a nice surprise or two. However, I do have my own homework to do, and you,” he pointed to Dustin, “still need to get a cat. So hop to or I’m leaving you to your own devices.”

Max turned her head to Dustin. “…why are you getting a cat?”

The curly headed boy sighed and rubbed his face. “So I can ease the pain my mother will feel when I tell her that her beloved Mews is dead. I’m going to see if I can get her to name this one Tews. It’s a pun _and_ a way to honor Mews.”

There was a still silence in the room for a moment until, “That has to be the lamest thing I’ve ever heard,” Lucas interjected.

“Hey, you try being a single mom with me as a child. That cat was the rock in her life, lame or not, I’m going to get her another damn cat,” Dustin shot back.

“He meant the name, knucklehead,” Max said, rolling her eyes. “Getting your mom another cat is actually pretty sweet. Good on you.”

“It won’t be too sweet if I leave your ass here. Let’s go,” Steve interrupted, turning his back and walking out the door to dispel any opposition. He heard shuffling and bags zipping and three pairs of footsteps quickly sounding behind him.

They continued outside, and Steve motioned Dustin to grab his bike before he continued on to his car. He unlocked the trunk and waited for Dustin to come over. When he did, Max and Lucas in tow, he helped lift the bike in the trunk, and even Steve had to admit that he was surprised that it fit in there the way it did. He frowned when he saw Lucas starting to pick up his bike as well. Steve laid a hand on the handlebars to ground the wheel again. “What are you doing?”

Lucas just stared blanking at him. “Uh, putting my bike in the car?”

Steve rolled his eyes. “I can see that. _Why_?”

Max scoffed. “You don’t actually think we’d let Dustin pick out a cat on his own, do you? No matter how well the Dart situation ended, he still tried to keep an alien slug as a pet.”

Dustin exclaimed “Hey!” in an offended tone in the background, but he was largely ignored. “What you think I was just going to sit in the car while he picked out a cat? I’m not that idiotic,” Steve responding, once more ignoring the protested coming from the loudest member of the group.

“We just don’t think you understand what you’re getting yourself into when it comes to Dustin and pets. Believe me when I say that you don’t want to go through that alone,” Lucas chimed in, wrestling his bike from Steve’s grasp and successfully getting it into the trunk.

Steve groaned, knowing he had lost the battle. “ _Fine._ You’re all going home right afterwards though, got it?” He got mumbled agreements as he slammed the trunk door down.

As Max and Lucas climbed into the backseat, Steve grabbed Dustin by the arm. “One last thing…where’s my Farrah Fawcett spray?”

Dustin furrowed his brow, but Steve could see the mischievous glint hiding in the boy’s eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Steve lowered his voice and kept the straightest face possible. “You do. You have every idea. And if that can doesn’t find its way back to me by the end of tonight, you’ll die.” With that, he let Dustin go and sauntered off to the driver’s side door as if nothing had even happened, with the younger boy gaping after him.

“It’s…it’s at the house, god….” Dustin called after him. Steve opened the door and slid into the seat. “Steve! Don’t kill me!” Dustin called again, running to the passenger side door and hopping in to the car. As Steve started the car, Dustin thought he could see the faintest hint of a smirk on the older boy’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See? Told ya I'd update again! 
> 
> Anyways, this is another small fluff chapter. As I'm writing I'm finding that I'm wanting to dig into Steve a little bit more, which is actually a lot farther from my original intent for this story than I ever planned to get. It's difficult to find that balance. 
> 
> Hopefully it won't take me two weeks to get the next chapter to you! 
> 
> <3


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve just stared at Dustin. “Did your mom adopt from God himself to be able to get Mews that cheap for you to actually think that $20 would cover this?”

“So how are you even planning on paying for a cat if you can hardly afford to play one arcade game?” Lucas asked Dustin as they drove along.

Steve’s eyes snapped to the boy sitting beside him. “Are you kidding me? You can’t even afford this?”

Dustin rolled his eyes. “Calm down. After the whole fiasco of only coughing up a small amount of the arcade funds last week, I started saving up. My allowance, any spare change, the crisp five dollar bill I found in Mom’s purse…managed to get about $20 out of it. Should cover at least most of it.”

Steve just stared at Dustin. “Did your mom adopt from God himself to be able to get Mews that cheap for you to actually think that $20 would cover this?”

Dustin blinked back at him. “No…she got him from a neighbor of ours. For free.”

Steve sighed. “I’ll cover what I can if I need to,” he raised a hand at Dustin’s forthcoming protests, “and I _will_ need to. But I guess it makes us even, you taking care of me and all.”

Dustin looked at Steve and back at his two friends in the back seat, who were trying hard to hide their smirks. “You know, I’m really glad you guys think that I’m just a child who has no idea how shit works, but honestly, you can all screw yourselves.”

\--

It took no time at all for the group to find the replacement Mews. Steve had opted to take the group to the animal shelter instead of the established pet store in town. He figured it would end up being cheaper. Not to mention that he’d always had a soft spot for the shelter after the basketball team had volunteered there a couple of years before.

They managed to find a beautiful Siamese kitten, probably no more than 3 months old, that immediately grabbed Dustin’s attention. It turned out that Steve didn’t have to cover that much more of the adoption cost, only another $20 or so. Thankfully, Dustin already had litter, food, and all of the other cat essentials at home that were leftover from Mews, so all in all, Steve had to admit that the cost wasn’t that big of a deal.

As the shelter operators were verifying the paperwork, Steve let his eyes wander to another cage, with a small, shaggy haired, brown cat that was just staring back at him. Steve cocked his head, and the cat mirrored his actions, causing Steve to chuckle. He walked over to the cage and stuck a finger through the grate, the cat reaching up with its paw to playfully swat at it. Steve smiled. For whatever reason, he felt drawn to this particular animal, which was strange to him. He had never thought himself as a pet owner.

“What’s the deal with this guy?” Steve called over to one of the employees. She was maybe the same age as Steve, maybe a year old, only a couple of inches shorter. She looked athletic, though not overly muscular or thin, with long black hair, chestnut and playful eyes, and soft pink lips that seemed to maintain a small smile at all time. Steve blinked, grinning to himself over the sheer fortunes this shelter was offering him. She looked over at him and smiled brightly.

“Well, _she_ was dropped off here a couple of days ago. She’s a Maine Coon, about a year old, from what we can tell. We’re currently just holding her, giving her owners a couple of weeks to show up and claim her, but it that doesn’t happen, she’ll be up for adoption after that. Why, interested?” She asked with a glint in her eye.

Steve grinned at her again, leaning against the cage wall. “You know, I think I could be,” he said with a wink. He felt a sharp flick on his ear, causing him to jump away from the cage and rub his ear. The cat looked back at him innocently, but he could already tell that she had just as much attitude as any other woman in his life.

However, the employee just laughed and shook her head. Steve laughed lightly with her, clearing his throat. “No, but seriously, I think I could be interested in her. Can I leave my number with you guys, let me know what happens with her or if she comes up for adoption?”

The girl nodded with a smile. “Yeah, I think we could do that. You’re the first one to take an interest in her, so I think you have a good chance should he not be claimed.” They started walking back to the counter, just in time to see Dustin placing his new cat into his jacket and zipping it up around him. Steve chuckled and Dustin looked over at him.

“What, he needs to stay warm _and_ this gets him used to the scent he’ll be living with for the rest of his life. Seems like a good option to me. Now stop flirting and let’s go.”

Steve felt his face warm as he turned to the girl. “I guess that’s my cue. Thanks for the information…” he paused and chuckled slightly. “I just realized I didn’t catch your name.”

She smirked. “That’s mainly because I didn’t throw it at you. But it’s Andrea.”

Steve smiled at her and nodded. “Andrea. Well, thank you Andrea. And here,” he started as he leaned over to write his name and phone number on a piece of paper, “is my number. Please call if you have any news on my girl over there.”

“Will do,” she paused and looked down at the paper, “Steve.” She smirked up at him and then looked up at the retreating backs of the group of kids. “Take care of him! He was my favorite!”

Dustin turned around and grinned widely at her. “He’s in good hands, don’t worry!”

Steve groaned inwardly as he went to follow them. He turned back and waved as he got to the door, and finally slipped out into the evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know you guys are probably getting so tired of these short fluff chapters, but I PROMISE the next chapter has plot to it. 
> 
> How do I know? Because I'm already writing it!
> 
> Work has finally slowed down just enough that I can actually start to turn my attention back towards this. I'm finding it much easier to actually write while I'm at work (as strange as that may sound), so I finished this chapter today and I'm hoping to finish the next one tomorrow. No more empty promises!
> 
> I love you guys. Happy Tuesday!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “He said I could go see her.”
> 
> Steve’s head snapped up, as did everyone else’s.

The group was laughing as they filed out of the car at the Henderson residence. Tews had managed to climb onto Dustin’s head and nuzzle himself into the thick curls on top, and even though Dustin had removed him several times, the kitten repeatedly made its way back.

“Ow!” Dustin yelped, as Tews sunk his claws into the boy’s scalp. Steve chuckled and finally came to his rescue, grabbing the kitten and securing him in his arms. Tews purred and started gnawing lightly on a crease in the older boy’s jacket as Dustin grumbled to himself about clipping the cat’s claws as soon as possible.

As the group rounded the corner of the house to the front door, they stopped short as they saw one Mike Wheeler sitting on the porch with his legs crossed and his head leaned back against the front door. He looked almost serene, as if he had been one of the party members who hadn’t gotten any sleep for the past few days and was finally getting the opportunity to rest his eyes. For all Steve knew, that could’ve actually been the case.

“Mike? Where’s Will? What’s going on?”  Dustin asked. Steve looked at Mike expectantly as the younger boy opened his eyes slowly and looked up, his eyes narrowing in on the cat with confusion. Steve just shook his head, mouthing ‘ _long story’_. Mike sighed and glanced to the rest of his friends.

“He’s at home, hopefully asleep. He seems to be doing better each day, but he still hasn’t gotten the rest he actually needs. So I’m hoping he’ll do that while I’m gone.”

“Okay…” Lucas started slowly, “but why are you here? I thought it was going to be impossible to tear you away from Will.”

Mike paused for a moment, taking the time to get to his feet. “Hopper called.”

There was a stunned silence throughout the group, and Steve inwardly cheered at the thought that he may have actually done something right.

“What did he say?” Max asked slowly. At that moment, Tews had folded over on himself and nipped Steve’s finger quite hard, bringing him back to reality.

“How about first,” Steve interrupted, “we go inside and get this guy set up and then we can talk about it. It’s getting cold out anyways.”

The group nodded and resumed walking towards the door. “He said he was sorry he hadn’t told me anything,” Mike continued as he stepped aside to let Dustin unlock and open the front door. “And that it was wrong that he didn’t me include me in the first place, and that he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.”

Steve clapped his shoulder with a small smile, lightly pushing Mike into the house before he entered it himself. He sat the cat down on the ground and Tews immediately started exploring. Cautiously, but eager. Steve thought it was cute, the way the kitten was bobbing his head in every direction, getting a sense of just what he was getting into.

“So what did he say?” Dustin repeated as he walked towards the hallway closet to grab the cat food. “What’s going on with El? Is she okay?”  

Steve looked back over at Mike, his heart instantly going out to the kid as he watched the young boy sit down stiffly and quietly. Steve had hoped that the situation would’ve gotten better in just the few hours it had been since he had seen Hopper, but he could tell by the look on Mike’s face that it hadn’t. At that instance, Mike looked back up and made direct eye contact with Steve, as if by some miracle Steve held the answers to how to fix his next statement. Steve held his breath as Mike answered softly. “She hasn’t woken up yet.”

 Steve let out the breath he was holding as the rest of the room stilled, letting his eye contact with Mike break as he looked to the ground. He brought his hand up to rub the back of his neck. He didn’t even know the girl and yet hearing the words again felt just as heavy on him.

“Mike…” he heard Lucas start, but Mike interrupted him.

“He said I could go see her.”

Steve’s head snapped up, as did everyone else’s.

“How the hell did you get him to agree to that?” Dustin asked urgently.

Mike shrugged, his eyes shining bright with disbelief. “I didn’t get him to do anything. He just said it!” he answered excitedly, with a small smile that was eagerly returned by everyone else.

“So…we can go see her?” Lucas asked hopefully.

Steve watched as Mike’s smile faltered as the younger boy slowly shook his head. “No, just me,” he answered back, not unkindly. “I think that may be best right now, anyways.”

Steve glanced at the rest of the party, and was surprised to see that all of them were clear of protests. There was a look of understanding that was evident on everyone’s faces.

“Of course, yeah,” Max answered, speaking mostly for the two boys behind her. “We’ll be here when you get back.” Mike smiled at her appreciatively, giving her a short sort of nod.

“Do you want me to drive?” Steve spoke up softly.

Mike looked up and nodded. “That was actually one of his conditions. He didn’t want to take Mrs. Byers away from Will, I can’t keep track of Nancy to ask her, and he didn’t want to get anyone else involved.”

Steve rolled his eyes playfully. “Yes, I know, I’m the last resort in all of your hearts.” Mike chuckled in response, shrugging his shoulders. Steve looked up at the clock and sighed. It was about 6 PM. He supposed he would have to try to do his homework at the cabin. He looked back down at the remaining members of the party, motioning to Lucas and Max. “Do you guys want a ride home or do you want to stay here?”

The two exchange a glance and looked back at Dustin. “If it’s cool, we can stay here. Play with Tews for a little bit.” Steve looked back at Dustin, who just nodded back. The older boy furrowed his brow, not used to seeing the other boy so quiet.

“Okay. We’ll try to be back early so I can take you home then, but it’s probably a good idea to just unload your bikes now, in case you want to leave early, need to make curfew or something.” Mike frowned at this, but otherwise didn’t say anything. Steve knew it was likely that the younger boy was trying not to push his luck.

The group made their way out to the car, and quickly unloaded the bikes. As Lucas and Max made their way back to the house, Steve pulled Dustin back. “I’ll call and let you know if we’re going to be late.”

Dustin nodded. “Okay,” he replied blandly.

Steve tilted his head. “What’s going on? You got real quiet, real quick back there.”

Dustin looked up, his eyes searching the older boy’s before looking away and shrugging. “I’m just worried, I guess. There’s a lot going on.”

Steve paused to observe his young friend. He knew that he wasn’t being given the whole truth but he didn’t have the time to push. He placed a hand on Dustin’s shoulder, bending down to make eye contact. “We’ll talk later, okay? I’ll grab something to eat on the way back and we can hang out. But right now I think your friend’s going to kill me if I don’t get in the car _right now_.”

Dustin looked behind Steve to see Mike glaring holes into Steve’s back. Dustin cracked a smile and nodded. “You’re probably right on that one.” He looked back up and softened. “Thanks, Steve.”

The older boy smiled back and patted his friend’s shoulder. “Anytime, kid.” He watched Dustin turn around and walk back to the house. Steve followed his lead, quickly jumping into the car and driving away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting really bad at my promises. So I won't make anymore! But I'm so, so happy you guys are enjoying this. Thank you for the support! It means everything to me that my debut story on this site is going this well!!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How long have you been holding that one in, Wheeler?” he asked softly, but light-heartedly.
> 
> “Too long,” Mike admitted.

The car ride to the cabin was a tense one. The only sounds were the occasional directions that Mike had thrown out and the sounds of different fabrics rubbing against one another as Mike’s leg bounced up and down at what Steve figured was an ungodly speed. The younger boy sat with his elbow propped against the window, his head resting on his hand, and his finger tapping his face. To put it lightly, the boy was radiating impatience and anxiety. Even Steve’s attempts to drown out the silence with the radio was met with an annoyed glare, as if any other noise was a direct insult to his thought processes.

As they finally pulled into the clearing at the edge of the wood, Steve was grateful that there was a short walk ahead of them. The younger boy needed to calm down, and a short walk in the night air was bound to help. After jumping out of the car and grabbing a flashlight from his backseat, and a quick warning to stay within the beam of the light, the two set off.

About halfway to the cabin, Steve noticed that his plan was failing. Mike was walking as fast as he possibly could while also staying within lit view of his chaperone. Steve sighed. “Mike.” The younger boy jumped slightly at the noise but kept walking. Steve huffed and jogged to catch the other boy’s arm. “Mike, stop for a second!”

Mike turned on his heel sharply, effectively releasing himself from Steve’s grasp. “What?” he demanded.

Steve kept his gaze firm. “Just take a minute, okay? You look crazy. We’re just going to see El, not to take down another army.”

Mike let out a frustrated sigh. “She needs me. The faster we get there, the faster I can help.”

Steve chuckled exasperatedly. “You think Hopper is going to let your ass through the door while you’re this anxious? That’s not going to help anything, Mike. You’ve gotta stay calm here.”

The younger boy let out a low growl before turning back around and angrily kicking a pile of leaves. “This is such BULLSHIT!” he bellowed, while Steve tried not to flinch at the idea of yet another Wheeler yelling ‘bullshit.’ “I go a full _year_ without even knowing what happened to her, I finally get her back, she closes the gate, _hasn’t woken up yet_ , Hopper refused to tell me anything, but I have to be _calm?_ ”

Steve watched the boy pace in front of him with attentive eyes. He sat the flashlight down and slowly shrugged off his jacket. He balled it up and held it out in front of him to Mike. “Here. Scream,” he said casually.

Mike stopped cold and looked at him, bewildered. “ _What?”_

Steve tried to hide his smirk. “Scream. You know,” he brought the jacket up to his face, and softly whispered-yelled before offering to the other boy again. “I’d say do it out loud but the last thing we need is the Chief of Police thinking someone got murdered right outside of his secret cabin.” Mike continued to stare at him, and Steve just sighed. “Look, you obviously, and understandably, have a lot of pent up frustration right now. Get at least some of it out before going in there, alright? Because yes, you need to be calm. You being distressed is going to make everyone else distressed. Which could also include El. Not to say that I'm an expert on comas or anything, but it sounds right to me.”

He could see a look of thoughtful calculation in Mike’s eyes before the younger boy suddenly marched up, grabbed the jacket out of his hand, shoved it to his own face and started wailing. Steve stepped back in surprise, not having realized just how much power the raven-haired kid in front of him had.

After a moment, the screaming stopped, but Mike made no move to remove the jacket from his face. Steve let the silence around them hover before softly breaking it. “He was scared to tell you, Mike,” he said quietly, taking a step forward towards the boy and placing a hand on his shoulder. “He knew he screwed up the first time, not telling you when she was okay. But now that she’s not, he didn’t know how to handle telling you something like that.”

That’s when he felt a jolt under his hand and the faint sound of a choked sob coming from the younger boy. Steve cursed under his breath and pulled the other body towards him, wrapping him in a hug. He wasn’t entirely sure when it became second nature to him to comfort these kids, and he had half wondered if he should be concerned by it. But he also knew that now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. So he stood there, with the middle Wheeler sobbing in his arms. Over the course of just a few minutes, Mike quieted, shaky breaths being the only indication that anything had even happened.

“How long have you been holding that one in, Wheeler?” he asked softly, but lightheartedly.

“Too long,” Mike admitted in a mutter as he stepped back from the embrace, wiping his eyes of any evidence that he had let his guard down. Steve eyed him, taking in the shadows under his eyes that he hadn’t noticed before. It didn’t take much to realize that Mike had been staying so strong for everyone else that he had forgotten to take care of himself.

Mike offered the jacket back to him and Steve took it, shrugging it on quickly. He looked back down at the younger boy. "Let me know if you need to use it again. It's not good to keep that shit locked in there." Mike stayed silent, looking off in the distance to show he was ready to keep moving. 

Steve picked up the flashlight and started walking again, relieved when Mike kept his pace normal this time. They walked in a silence that was lighter than the one they faced before. Steve lightly kicked a couple of twigs out of his way as he walked, Mike kept his eyes trained on the ground. After a couple of minutes, Mike spoke again.

“So you talked to him?” he asked quietly.

Steve glanced down at him and nodded. “Yeah, I talked to him.”

“When?”

“Earlier today, actually.”

Mike smirked and looked up at the older teen. “What happened to waiting until you were a hundred percent?”

Steve huffed a laugh and shrugged, turning his attention back to the path, relieved to see a faint glow coming up in the distance.  “An opportunity presented itself and I took it,” he replied, deciding to omit the part where he was a royal dumbass walking around town with a weapon.

Mike hummed in response and paused for a moment. “What did you say to him?” he asked, looking up nervously.

“I just told him the truth,” Steve replied blandly. “That you were in this with El first, and it wasn’t fair to keep you out of the loop.” Steve smirked and continued. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell him you’re in love with her. I figured you wouldn’t appreciate getting shot.” He chuckled to himself as the younger boy visibly relaxed, and he didn’t need the flashlight to know that there was a blush creeping up on his cheeks.

“Why are you doing all of this?” he asked suddenly.

Steve blinked and looked down at the other boy. “Doing what?” he asked, shining the flashlight down to look for the trip wire he knew they had to be close to.

“Everything,” Mike replied slowly. “The new cat with Dustin, talking to Hopper, _driving_ me to the cabin, hell, driving everyone everywhere; giving Will that pep talk last night. Why are you doing it?” He sounded curious, but thankfully not suspicious.

Steve stayed quiet for a moment, keeping his eyes trained on the ground. He sure as hell didn’t know the answer. It was something he had been trying to figure out himself. He admired these kids, sure, but it was strange to him how naturally it came to him. “I don’t know what to tell you, kid. I don’t know myself,” he grumbled quietly and let out a deep sigh. “Could be because I feel like I owe Dustin for taking care of me or I’m trying to cling on to something after the break up with Nance,” he continued and smiled, “or something, because it sure as hell isn’t because I like you jerks.”

Mike rolled his eyes as the flashlight finally found the trip wire, briefly reflecting the light back at them. Steve stepped over it and Mike followed suit. Before they continued, Mike grabbed Steve’s arm, pulling him to a halt. Steve looked down at him curiously as Mike looked him in the eye. “Seriously, thank you. Whatever the reason, it’s really cool of you.”

Steve felt his face heat up as he looked away, using his other hand to wave away the comment. “Don’t mention it, or else I’m going to have to establish a ground rule to rid of all these mushy moments,” he joked with a small smile stationed on his face.

Mike chuckled and shook his head as they resumed walking. “God forbid you actually let your soft side show, Harrington.”

Steve shrugged, grinning. “I have a very hard earned reputation to uphold here.”

Mike scoffed. “Please, even the middle school kids know that after dating my sister and Billy making his entrance that your 'reputation' doesn’t exist anymore.”

Steve shot him a dirty look. “Don’t remind me,” he muttered under his breath as they reached the front door. He sighed and looked down at his companion. “Ready?”

With a deep breath, Mike nodded and opened the screen door. “Ready.” And with that, he knocked on the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 12! I think we're trucking along quite nicely. 
> 
> I've been toying with the idea of a separate fic that's just full of one-shots with our beautiful family here. Is that something you guys would be interested in? 
> 
> As always, thank you for taking the time to read, comment, kudos, bookmark; just thank you. It warms my heart every time I see that people actually like this little story. 
> 
> Til next time!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m about to ask a lot of you, Chief. And I’m going to need you to hear me out before you just turn it down, okay?”

It took several minutes of Hopper not answering the door before Mike remembered that there was a secret knock. It was another couple of minutes before he remembered what it was. But finally, the younger boy tapped out the right pattern on the door, 2-1-3, and the door opened almost immediately, the distressed face of Jim Hopper staring back at them.

“Jesus, kid, I told you, secret knock,” Hopper sighed, running a hand down his face as he stepped aside to let the two boys in. “Even with the facility shut down in progress, you never know when those government whack-jobs are going to get sneaky.”

“Sorry, I’ve been a bit pre-occupied the past few days, haven’t been thinking straight,” Mike deadpanned back, but he at least had the courtesy to look guilty about it. Still, Hopper shot Steve a look, Steve only being able to shrug back in response as he walked through the door.

“Right. Well…for next time, just remember it…” Hopper trailed off, walking quietly to a door on the opposite side of the room. Mike and Steve followed just as quietly. Hopper stopped just short of the door and turned around. “She’s still asleep, Mike. I really do think that it’s a coma that she’ll come out of, but I just don’t know how long that’s going to take. But I’m a man of my word; I told you that you could see her, so you’re going to see her. Just try and keep it calm. The last thing I need is a super-powered teenager being distressed awake.”

Mike only nodded in response, and Steve sighed beside him. Hopper gave a curt nod back to the boy and slowly opened the door. Mike immediately headed into the room, as calmly as he possibly could, sitting in the chair that was already stationed beside the bed. Hopper stayed beside the doorway looking in. Steve slowly walked over, choosing to lean against the other side of the door frame.

His eyes immediately went to the small girl laying on the bed. For the most part, she didn’t look much different from someone who would be asleep after a long day. But the dark circles around her eyes surrounded by the strikingly pale shade of her skin suggested something much more strenuous than a long day. The oil had been washed from her hair, so now it was just laying as a curly-haired halo on the pillow, and the leather jacket had been replaced with a light blue sweater. It was a whole different El than the one he had met days earlier, and he had to admit that he preferred the softer looking one in front of him. If only she would wake up…

He noticed that Mike had taken the girls hand and started talking to her softly. Steve took that as his sign to give them space. He turned and gently grabbed at Hopper’s arm, signaling that they should give them some time to themselves. The older man reluctantly followed him, making a show of keeping the door open. Steve chuckled and sat down on the couch, keeping his gaze fixed on the tv in front of him as he felt the couch dip beside him.

After a few minutes of quiet, Steve was growing uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and made to grab the remote sitting in front of him. A deep chuckle stopped him.

“It won’t work, kid. I haven’t gotten the damned thing fixed yet.”

Steve huffed a laugh and furrowed his brow. “What happened?” he asked curiously.

The older man shrugged, waving his hand slightly. “Me and the kid had something of a blow out. Literally. I wouldn’t let her see him, she didn’t like it, she threw a book at me, I ripped the chord out of the tv. And since the tv was the only thing really keeping her sane, since she could check on her friends that way, she had a tantrum that’s going to cause me to replace every window in the shack. Blew every one of them out.”

Steve’s jaw dropped as he looked around the cabin, noting the stray shards of glass here and there. “Good god…you sure you know what you got yourself into, Chief?”

Hopper just chuckled and shook his head. “Sometimes I really don’t, kid. No idea.”

Steve snorted a laugh and looked down at his hands, before looking around at the room again. He shrugged nonchalantly. “You should get it fixed though; put it in her room and let it run. It could help, who knows.”

Hopped stilled for a minute and muttered to himself before slowly nodding. “Yeah, maybe.” He sighed and motioned to the bookshelf behind him. “I got some books back there if you need something to distract yourself with.”

Steve nodded and moved to get up, and then remembered his school books sitting in his car. He groaned, shaking his head, realizing that he probably just wouldn’t get his homework done for the next day. With a resigned sigh, he got up and moved to the bookshelf, hoping that he could find something that would properly keep him occupied.

He was impressed with the range of subjects on the shelves. Everything from hunting books, to fiction books, to self-help books, to kids books. Half of him figured that this was Hopper’s attempt at grabbing whatever he thought might keep El occupied, but then again, he knew that Hopper had a life before Hawkins, and who knows what that life involved?

He settled on _1984_ by George Orwell. What better thing to read that the Jeopardy winning answer? He went back to the couch and plopped down. Glancing at the clock, figured that they could stay for another hour before he needed to head back and keep his promise to Dustin. He sighed and opened the book and started reading.

\--

About a quarter of the way through the book, Steve couldn’t do it anymore. It was an interesting enough book, but after the past year, an over-involved government was the last thing he wanted to think about.

He glanced back at the clock and realized that his hour had been long passed. “Shit…” he muttered under his breath, quickly getting up and lightly tossing the book on the table in front of him. He quietly walked over to the door and lightly knocked, peering inside. Mike looked over at him, eyes red and shiny. Steve deflated and made his way over to the bed, kneeling down beside Mike’s chair.

“I really hate to do this, Mike, I really do,” he started softly, “but I think it’s time to go. I promised Dustin I’d try to get back early.” Mike looked away and stayed quiet for a moment. 

“Please don’t make me go, Steve,” Mike sobbed back quietly. “ _Please.”_

Steve opened and closed his mouth, searching for the right words, sorrow reaching his eyes as he searched for the answer. He looked back behind him to see Hopper staring back at him curiously. Steve sighed and turned back to Mike. “Give me just a minute, alright?” Mike nodded and turned back to El immediately. Steve could see a twitch in the younger boy’s hand, and the older boy had to wonder if he hadn’t tightened his grip on the girls hand just the slightest bit.

He got up and strolled back into the living room, pulling the door to the bedroom until it was just cracked. He went over and sat on the coffee table in front of Hopper, settling his elbows on his needs, and resting his chin on top of his clasped hands.

“I’m about to ask a lot of you, Chief. And I’m going to need you to hear me out before you just turn it down, okay?”

Hopper just rolled his eyes, letting gaze linger on the door beside him. “He wants to stay, doesn’t he?” Steve should’ve been surprised that Hopper already knew that, but he simply nodded. The older man sighed. “Yeah, I was afraid of that.” He let his gaze drop back to his lap, his hand picking at a stray thread that was sticking out. He let out another deep breath and ran the hand down the rest of his leg. “I guess I owe the kid that much. One night and one night only. And he sleeps on the _couch_.”

Steve offered the older man a small smile and a chuckle. “Thanks, Chief. Can you do me a favor and call Joyce while I tell him?” All he got from Hopper was a curt nod. So, they both got up and went their respective ways.

Steve stepped back into the bedroom and kneeled back down beside Mike. “Okay, kid, Hop said you could stay here tonight.” He saw the light ignite in Mike’s eyes and it made his heart smile just a little bit. He held up a finger before the excitement could take hold. “But. It’s tonight and tonight only. And he said you’re sleeping on the couch.”

Mike just nodded eagerly, barely phased by the conditions. “That’s fine, as long as I get to stay. Thanks, Steve.”

Steve waved his hand. “No problem. He’s calling Joyce now. It wouldn’t hurt you to talk to her too, okay? Check on Will, let them both know you’re okay. Deal?”

At that simple request, Mike darted past him without a second thought. Steve chuckled and watched him go, before turning back to El. He sighed and walked closer to the bed, reaching down to take her hand himself.

“It was one hell of a fight. We couldn’t have done it without you. I hope to god that we were able to be some help to you at least. Or else I went into a Demo-dog infested pit for no reason and I’m not sure I could handle that reality,” he joked.

He looked back behind him for a second and turned back, lowering his voice. “You’ve got that one tied around your finger. And while I’m not saying to strain yourself to try and get better as quick as possible, come back to him, okay? He’s staying as strong as he can, but I don’t think he can handle missing you for much longer. Focus on resting, getting stronger for him. For everyone else too. It doesn’t take much to see the impact you’ve had on this group of people. So, wake up at some point so I can actually meet you, yeah?” He sighed. “I’m gonna go now, but don’t forget what I said. Deal?”

He went to pull away but stopped when he felt a twitch in his hand. Frozen, he looked up at El’s face for any indication that she was actually waking up. But she lay as peaceful as ever. He huffed a laugh and shook his head, writing it off as nothing more than his imagination. He released her hand and walked towards the door, almost getting knocked down as Mike came back through the door. Steve couldn’t help but laugh as he was personally experiencing his first ‘happy Mike’ moment.

He shook his head and entered back into the living room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...hey.   
> DON'T KILL ME.   
> Long story short, I moved about a month ago. I was supposed to transfer with my job and basically just continue on with life as normal. But my company denied the transfer. Just denied it. So I've spent the last month running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to find work. BUT, I finally got something and I'm hoping that in that because of that, I'll be able to actually focus on this again. 
> 
> But you guys, you have no idea what it has meant to me that this story is still getting a little bit of attention, even while I've been gone. Getting the email every couple of days or so that a couple more people have left a kudos on this story or even a couple of comments, has motivated me to come back to this, so thank you, so, so much. I can't even describe what it feels like that people actually like this story and want to read more of it. Bless you all. 
> 
> That being said, I'm probably scrapping that one-shot idea. Every simple idea that I had has been erased in my mind so I could focus on finding a job. If I do think of more though, you bet your tush that I'll be posting them! 
> 
> As always, feel free to comment and tell me how you feel, what you like, don't like. And thank you for reading!! 
> 
> xx Paige


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